Social representations of governance for change towards sustainability: perspectives of sustainability advocates

Fischer, Anke; Spekkink, Wouter; Polzin, Christine; Díaz-Ayude, Alberto; Brizi, Ambra; Macsinga, Irina

doi:10.1080/09644016.2018.1448559

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(38 reference statements)

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“…This idea is consistent also with studies showing a more general association between mindfulness, relations to nature, environmental concern and sustainable lifestyles (e.g., Brown and Kasser, 2005; Fabjański and Brymer, 2017; Panno et al, 2018). The findings from a recent multi-national EU-funded research project (the GLAMURS project 2 ), exploring the role of different sustainable initiatives (such as, for example, urban organic agricultural cooperatives), are also supporting this assumption (e.g., Frantzeskaki et al, 2016; Fischer et al, 2018).…”

Section: Restorative Environments and Walkability As Urban Affordancementioning

confidence: 85%

Social-Cultural Processes and Urban Affordances for Healthy and Sustainable Food Consumption

2018

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In this paper, we provide an overview of research highlighting the relation between cultural processes, social norms, and food choices, discussing the implication of these findings for the promotion of more sustainable lifestyles. Our aim is to outline how environmental psychological research on urban affordances, through the specific concepts of restorative environments and walkability, could complement these findings to better understand human health, wellbeing and quality of life. We highlight how social norms and cultural processes are linked to food choices, and we discuss the possible health-related outcomes of cultural differences in food practices as well as their relation to acculturation and globalization processes. We also discuss the concepts of restorative environments and walkability as positive urban affordances, their relation to human wellbeing, and the possible link with cultural processes and sustainable lifestyles. Finally, we outline issues for future research and areas for policy-making and interventions on the links between cultural processes, healthy and sustainable food consumption and urban affordances, for the pursuit of public health, wellbeing and environmental sustainability.

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Section: Restorative Environments and Walkability As Urban Affordancementioning

confidence: 85%

Social-Cultural Processes and Urban Affordances for Healthy and Sustainable Food Consumption

2018

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“…The questionnaire that guided the interview was jointly developed by the project team and combined eleven broad questions with a range of optional prompts and probing questions that were pre-tested by all team members. The questions addressed the members' wellbeing, conflicts related to sustainable behaviour, governance representations (see Fischer et al 2018) and sustainable lifestyles more generally. The question most directly related to wellbeing was "You have participated in [name of the initiative] for [add time].…”

Section: Procedure Materials and Methodological Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Something inside me has been set in motion”: Exploring the psychological wellbeing of people engaged in sustainability initiatives

Mock

Omann

Polzin

et al. 2019

Ecological Economics

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The role of sustainability initiatives and niche groups in transitions towards sustainability has received a good deal of attention. However, little is known about the people who make up these groups. This paper discusses their psychological wellbeing -a concept that comprises six elements: self-acceptance, personal growth and development, purpose in life, environmental mastery, autonomy, and positive relations with others. In the study we performed 46 semi-structured interviews with people from 11 sustainability initiatives in five countries across Europe. We find that the groups offer a platform to build and maintain social relations with other, often like-minded, people. While these relations often serve an important motivational function to stay engaged, they are not free of challenges. The interviews show that sustainability initiatives can also provide fertile ground for personal growth and other dimensions of psychological wellbeing. Environmental mastery -and specifically the capacity to cope with global environmental problems beyond individual control -is a major challenge for people engaged in sustainability initiatives. Overall, the data suggests strong links between social engagement and psychological wellbeing. From a theoretical perspective, this paper enriches the transition literature by exploring the role of psychological wellbeing among people engaged in niches.

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“…Six studies utilise a multifocal approach, with data collected from different countries. One of is the studies includes experimental research from the UK with a replication study in India [79], three are comparative case studies [80][81][82], one is a qualitative longitudinal ethnography of six UNFCCC conferences in four different countries [83], and another one gathered qualitative data from five EU countries [84]. Two studies focus on the European Union, in particular regarding EU climate regulation and policy [85,86].…”

Section: Timeline and Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Following social representation theory [132,133], Fischer and colleagues showed that the socially shared understanding of governance among local actors influenced how they interfaced with practices and structural conditions promoting the possibility for societal transformation [80]. Drawing from the same theoretical frame, Castro and Mouro advanced a social psychology of legal innovation in the field of environmental governance, especially by explaining how people respond to normative change and translate new laws into lived and situated practices [85].…”

Section: Cluster 2: People's Perceptions and Viewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Can Psychology Contribute to Climate Change Governance? A Systematic Review

Freschi,

Menegatto,

Zamperini

2023

Sustainability

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The urgency to reply to climate change requires a governance perspective that connects multiple societal levels and sectors and involves a plurality of actors. Psychologists should take an important role in addressing the ongoing climate crisis, together with other practitioners, scholars, policymakers and citizens. This systematic review aims to show the contribution psychology has offered in the governance of climate change, illustrating how psychological scholarship is positioned in the interdisciplinary discourse on climate governance and the way psychological constructs and theories are implemented. Following the PRISMA guidelines, two electronic databases (APA PsycInfo and Scopus) were screened, and 52 publications meeting the eligibility criteria were included and thoroughly analysed. The literature at the intersection between climate governance and governance is relatively scarce, yet it covers different domains and scales of analysis. Psychological contributions are always integrated into a broader interdisciplinary discourse spanning from the environmental to the social sciences, yet a scarce theoretical specificity has been documented. We found an abundance of research on the determinants of pro-environmental behaviours, which often neglects context-grounded factors, while the relational and dynamic dimensions of governance concerning group processes and collective engagement are rarely taken into due consideration. We argue that psychologists should continue engaging in interdisciplinary collaborations to collectively craft climate solutions, especially focusing on citizenry’s active engagement. Deeper theoretical elaboration on the interface between governance and psychology is needed, particularly from an ecological and systemic perspective.

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Social representations of governance for change towards sustainability: perspectives of sustainability advocates

Cited by 5 publications

References 37 publications

Social-Cultural Processes and Urban Affordances for Healthy and Sustainable Food Consumption

Social-Cultural Processes and Urban Affordances for Healthy and Sustainable Food Consumption

“Something inside me has been set in motion”: Exploring the psychological wellbeing of people engaged in sustainability initiatives

How Can Psychology Contribute to Climate Change Governance? A Systematic Review

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