Green capital and social reproduction within families practising voluntary simplicity in the US

Abstract

In this paper, we examine how parents in the US who practise voluntary simplicity enact family and social reproduction. Two key findings emerged. First, adult simplifiers in our study typically grew up within families that practised voluntary simplicity or frugality and transmit these consumption patterns to their own children. Second, simplifiers often struggle with other family members, friends and society over issues related to the tensions that emerge as they seek to simplify their lives while at the same time raising children who will not be 'shunned' by a mainstream, consumption-focused society. We conclude that parents who voluntarily simplify are able to maintain their social class status through redefining what it means to be middle class through the creation and utilization of 'green capital'

Social Network Challenges to Reducing Consumption: The Problem of Gift Giving

“…Voluntary simplifiers in this study focus on antimaterialism and are reducing their consumption in order to address climate change and other environmental harms. Being a voluntary simplifier, according to one informant, primarily means “doing without, using less, and reducing waste” (Alexander and Ussher ; Grigsby ; Leonard‐Barton ; Walther and Sandlin ). The voluntary simplifiers I spoke with had anywhere from a high school education to a Ph.D. and their median incomes ranged from $20,000 to 100,000/yr.…”

“…However, some studies lack a detailed analysis of mechanisms—or how structures act on and enforce norms. Few studies consider face‐to‐face interactions and the ways they constrain behavior change and the presentation of self (Isenhour ; Lorenzen 2014a; Walther and Sandlin ). This focus on general barriers against reducing consumption makes sense, but limits our understanding of the process of social reproduction and social change.…”

Green Consumption and Social Change: Debates over Responsibility, Private Action, and Access

“…Studies include downshifting (consuming and working less, while increasing leisure time) (Kennedy et al ; Schor ) and, a more extreme version, voluntary simplicity. Voluntary simplicity is a loosely organized social movement centered on addressing environmental harms by significantly reducing consumption and waste (Alexander and Ussher ; Ballentine and Creery ; Craig‐Lees and Hill ; Elgin ; Etzioni ; Grigsby ; Huneke ; Johnston and Burton ; Lorenzen , , ; Maniates ; McDonald et al ; Sandlin and Walther ; Schor ; Smith ; Walther and Sandlin ; Zavestoski ). A recent multi‐national online survey ( n = 2268) finds that approximately 20% of people in the developed world are simplifying or about one billion people (Alexander and Ussher ).…”

The Development of Responsible and Sustainable Business Practice: Value, Mind-Sets, Business-Models

“…We have similarly seen the ascendency of ideas inherent to pragmatism in research on sustainable consumption, as the field has shifted attention from examining individual choice of offerings such as fair trade or organic food, renewable energy and hybrid cars (Bang et al 2000) to exploring the complex and dynamic processes involved as more sustainable forms of consumption emerge and take on meaning within social groups and communities. A prominent stream of scholarship in this vein has focused upon movements towards radical lifestyle changes such as voluntary simplicity that reflect ecological principles of sustainability (Marchand et al 2010;Shaw and Riach 2011;Walther and Sandlin 2013). Pragmatism is also helpful to understand less dramatic shifts towards sustainable consumption practices, for highly symbolic and very ordinary goods and services, and the ways that they interconnect with transitions in the socio-technical systems around their provision (Brand 2010).…”