Sustainable technologies and everyday life

Abstract

This paper introduces a methodology for analysing the opportunities for a more sustainable organisation of daily routines in consumption. In this approach, which is referred to as 'Social Practices Approach', the interaction between technology and behavior is put at the centre of the analysis. In traditional discussions about transitions, technology-related concepts and the jargon of system dynamics are often favoured at the expense of behavioral factors. These technology-biased approaches do not acknowledge the central role citizen-consumers as 'knowledgeable and capable actors'. Although transition theories are right in emphasising the importance of (sustainable) technologies, the role of human agency in technological change must be given systematic attention, because citizen-consumers are the 'changeagents' who make transitions work. While making a strong case for the role of human agency in transition-processes, we think it equally important to avoid some of the pitfalls of the socio-psychological perspectives that have often been connected with existing analyses of behavioral changes (Spaargaren, 1997). Within the socio-psychological paradigm, a strong emphasis is put on the motives, values and beliefs of an individual human being. It is assumed or believed that the only way to bring about sustainability transitions is to change the value- or belief-systems that are 'guiding' individual behavior. This emphasis on micro-cultural factors results in the neglect of the influence of social (technological) structure on behavior. The Social Practices Approach is situated between the technologicalsystem approach and the social-psychological approach. It combines the notion of human agents as knowledgeable and capable actors playing an active role in sustainable transitions, with an equal emphasis on the influence of the social and technological context on human behavior. It provides a common ground for technologists and sociologists to analyse and discuss transitions towards sustainability. We will first present the conceptual model and some core concepts of the Social Practices Approach (2), which we then 'put to work' by analysing transition processes in two domains of daily life, 'sustainable living' and 'tourism mobility' (3). We conclude with a few remarks on the future research- and policy-agenda on transitions in daily life. © 2006 Springer.