'Going Green'?: The Limitations of Behaviour Change Programmes as a Policy Response to Escalating Resource Consumption

ABSTRACT This paper contributes to a growing body of literature highlighting the limitations of behaviour change and the emergence of a social practice approach to reframe responses to escalating resource consumption. Drawing insights from interviews with Australian households and workshops with beh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental policy and governance 2014-03, Vol.24 (2), p.94-107
Main Authors: Moloney, Susie, Strengers, Yolande
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Australia
behaviour change
Consumption
environmental responsibility
Everyday life
Government
Households
Individuals
Interviews
Literature
Social order
social practices
Sustainability
sustainable consumption
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Summary:ABSTRACT This paper contributes to a growing body of literature highlighting the limitations of behaviour change and the emergence of a social practice approach to reframe responses to escalating resource consumption. Drawing insights from interviews with Australian households and workshops with behaviour change practitioners, we demonstrate how the ‘Going Green’ discourse, which focuses on targeting individuals to participate in ‘easy’ sustainability actions, overlooks the majority of consumption implicated in everyday practices. This leaves unchallenged the complex ways in which our lives are becoming more resource intensive. We argue for an ontological framing of social change underpinned by theories of social practice. Rather than considering policies, regulations and infrastructures involving urban form, housing, transport and infrastructure provision as ‘external factors’ separate from behaviour, practice theories accord them integral status in the constitution of social order and change. This represents a more challenging agenda for practitioners and governments in shifting and transforming everyday life. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment
ISSN:1756-932X
1756-9338
DOI:10.1002/eet.1642