Giving in to the Disheartened Hero: A Case Study
on Why We Ignore Our Ecological Conscience
Degree of Master of Science (Two Years) in Human Ecology: Culture, Power and Sustainability
30 ECTS
CPS: International Masters Programme in Human Ecology
Human Ecology Division
Department of Human Geography
Faculty of Social Sciences
Lund University
Author: PiiaTainio
Supervisor: Dr Richard Langlais
Term of defence : Spring Term 2011
Department:
Department of Human Geography
Address:
Geocentrum I, Sölvegatan 12, Lund 223 62
Telephone:
+46 46-222 86 90
Supervisor:
Dr Richard Langlais
Title and Subtitle:
Giving in to the Disheartened Hero: a Case-study on Why We
Ignore Our Ecological Conscience
Author:
Piia Tainio
Examination:
Masters thesis (two year)
Term:
Spring Term 2011
Abstract
A case study on the phenomenological obstacles for adjusting lifestyle to ecological
awareness. The data is obtained mainly through deep interview, backed by preparatory
research including chiefly participant observation, informal and semi structured interviews.
The findings have been connected to relevant concepts and theories in a process of
grounded theory. The fatigue, fears and doubts felt by the interviewee as hindering her
from fulfilling the ideals of her eco-consciousness were connected mainly to the concepts
of identity building, habitus, and social capital. Some economical motives figured as well,
Ac
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ow
led
ge
me
nts
I
want
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but they turned out not to be pivotal in this case. The theory of unequal exchange, time and
k
space appropriation, and the commensurability of everything, are shown to be relevant for
first
triggering the responses of hesitation to carry through or off-setting from the interviewee.
and
fore
These are my research questions: What is hindering a person who has acquired an
ecological awareness to pursue the lifestyle she finds optimal for her ecological conviction?
What motivates her when she decides whether or not to follow what she perceives as the
most
my
case
stud
best course of action seen from an eco-awareness perspective? What, if anything, could be
done about those obstacles?
y
Alice and my other interviewees for their time and patience. The ladies of my Swedish
conversations group and colleagues at the organization, you know who you are. My teachers and
peers who helped me with comments and constructive criticism. My family for putting up with me
and facilitating my studies in general and thesis work in particular. Thank you all for the inspiration
and support!
Table of contents
1Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 4
1.1Topic ................................................................................................................................ 4
1.2Research questions ........................................................................................................... 5
1.3Aim and purpose of the study .......................................................................................... 5
2Research methodology ............................................................................................................. 5
2.1Research lessons: discussing methods ............................................................................. 7
2.2Participant observation ..................................................................................................... 8
2.3introducing the interviewees ............................................................................................ 9
2.4Interviews ......................................................................................................................... 9
3Framework of study ................................................................................................................11
3.1Theoretical framework ................................................................................................... 12
3.2Social capital .................................................................................................................. 13
3.3National identity ............................................................................................................ 13
3.4Plenitude ......................................................................................................................... 14
3.5Guilty consumer ............................................................................................................ 14
3.6Time and space appropriation ........................................................................................ 15
4Findings: Obstacles and motivation ...................................................................................... 16
4.1Ecolabels: guidelines and doubt ..................................................................................... 18
4.2Dinner-parties and food from the land ........................................................................... 19
4.3Consumption and identity .............................................................................................. 20
4.4Travelling ...................................................................................................................... 21
4.5Double motivators for action.......................................................................................... 22
4.6Obstacles and excuses .................................................................................................... 23
4.6.1Guilt and shame ...................................................................................................... 25
5Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 26
5.1Off-setting ...................................................................................................................... 28
5.1.1Car vs bike? ............................................................................................................ 29
5.2Second fundamental of plenitude ................................................................................... 30
5.3The importance of joint effort and belonging ................................................................ 34
5.4The disheartened hero .................................................................................................... 35
5.5Time and space appropriation in the name of identity ................................................... 36
6Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 38
6.1What is hindering a person to pursue the lifestyle she finds optimal for her ecological
conviction? ......................................................................................................................... 38
6.2What motivates her when she decides whether or not to follow her ecological conscience? 38
6.3What, if anything, could be done about those obstacles? ............................................... 38
6.4The contribution of the study ......................................................................................... 39
7References .............................................................................................................................. 39
8Appendices ............................................................................................................................. 41
8.1Pictogram ....................................................................................................................... 41
8.2Questions for Alice ......................................................................................................... 41
1 Introduction
This thesis was long in gestation. Last autumn I suddenly had to abandon the original plan of basing
my thesis upon an observation of a specific consumption awareness campaign. When I was
scrambling to find a new topic I remembered a comment I've often heard and besides repeated
myself “I wish I could live more eco-consciously, but I just can't afford it?” This of course begs the
question “Why not?”
When looking for material to illuminate my question I came across research on the topics of
consumer agency and political consumption, and surveys on general consumption patterns.
However on motivation to change behavioural patterns I did only find literature on organizational
change and psychology. The behavioural gap literature that I found required a narrower focus for
observation. I could have used any of these materials in different ways, but that would have
required for me to either decide what area of obstacles I was looking for or to focus on a specific
area of lifestyle and consumption. I did not want to limit myself or my interviewee. By this time I
had decided on conducting a case study. I wanted to keep as open a mind as I could when
approaching my research. Conducting deep interviews with several individuals would have been an
alternative way of researching this topic, however I decided on a case-study to accommodate the
time left of my research period.
The interview this april turned into a journey with eyes wide open, bravely confronting the issues
hindering not only the interviewee, but many of us, to live as ecologically sound lives that we
would wish.
1.1 Topic
This is a case study on perceived obstacles to eco-conscious lifestyle by one individual who has in
the past two years found an ecological awareness that is prompting her to make changes in her
lifestyle. These obstacles are then presented and discussed with the help of the analytical tools of
habitus and social capital in the light of unequal exchange.
1.2 Research questions
What is hindering a person who has acquired an ecological awareness to pursue the lifestyle she
finds optimal for her ecological conviction? What motivates her when she decides whether or not to
follow what she perceives as the best course of action seen from an eco-awareness perspective?
What, if anything, could be done about those obstacles?
1.3 Aim and purpose of the study
The aim of the study is to identify and analyse the issues perceived by the selected interviewee as
hindering her in changing her lifestyle according to her ecological awareness. As well as to shed
light on the reasons why someone who has developed an ecological awareness hesitates to follow
through in action. I think this is a most important issue, since the severity of the environmental
crisis around us suggests that we act quickly to change our lifestyles to a one planet living such as is
suggested by the World Wildlife Fund initiative (www.oneplanetliving.org) among others. That
means we should endeavour to understand the obstacles perceived by ordinary people with an
awareness and a will to change but without the deep knowledge of for example a human ecologist. I
shall also attempt to counter some of the obstacles perceived by my interviewee.
2 Research methodology
The research is based upon a case study and where possible, highlighted by findings from the
practical applications course research during the past autumn and winter. I approach my data
through the phenomenological reduction and grounded theory. That is, I am following the grounded
theory procedure by always centring my analysis on the data. All interviews were audio recorded
and transcribed as soon as possible after the interview, as suggested by Longhurst (2010, 125) I
wrote down impressions and general themes directly afterwards as well (Longhurst 2010, 125).
I used freewriting in the first phase of analysis, that is, I discerned the themes from the transcribed
interview through freewriting as described by Charmaz (2001,88-90), as well as by following in
part grounded theory initial coding (Charmaz 2001,47). Meaning that I while studying the
transcript, kept in mind what my study is about, what the data suggests and pronounces, from whose
point of view, and that I find the theoretical categories for each datum (Charmaz 2001,47). I then let
my findings guide my analysis and choice of theories applied. The grounded theory as advocated by
Charmaz (2001, 9) puts the emphasis on flexible guidelines rather than rules and requirements and
thus works well as a complement to other methods. I have mainly applied the grounded theory
thinking in focussing on the data firstly and only after making a primary analysis of the themes and
emphasis made by the interviewee I connected it to relevant theories. But instead of fulfilling the
coding of the interview through one of the grounded theory methods proposed by Charmaz, for
example the line by line coding (2001,50), I applied the phenomenological method of reduction in
trying to keep an attitude of reflective attentiveness to the phenomenon I am investigating
(<www.phenomenologyonline.com>). I do not claim to come into my data analysis completely
without preconceptions. After all I have studied human ecology for a long time and many of the
theories I applied to my findings were familiar to me from previous studies. The approach I have
described here merely suggests that I choose my theories according to what fits the data and not the
other way around.
The material was collected using several different qualitative research methods. Deep interview,
participant observation, focus groups, and pictograms. My approach is phenomenological and
applied to qualitative deep interview with open ended questions (see appendix 2). I recorded the
deep-interviews and took notes during them. The semi-structured interviews during the practical
applications course (Longhurst 2010,119) were partly oriented upon my thesis research and I took
only notes, sometimes afterwards. I also tested the method of using picture-cards or pictogram
(www.pictogram.se) to gain insight in the method itself and to find out what kind of data I could get
from it. Pictograms are used to communicate with persons with little or no ability to communicate
in read, written or spoken language (www.pictogram.se). My conversations group had such a
variety of Swedish language-skill, that to access the thoughts of the less skilled I used pictogram
cards that I made myself and asked them to arrange how ever they wished (appendix 1). I used
participant observation (Laurier 2010, 133-134) as a means to enrich my data from the interviews,
focus groups, and picture-sorting sessions. I documented my observations by means of field diary
and/or taking photos.
The groundwork was laid during my practical application, part of which was internship at a
women's organisation last autumn and winter. Many unstructured and spontaneous discussions on
the topic of environmental awareness enriched my data from that period and through the
organisation I snowballed some of my interviewees with whom I conducted deep interviews with
open ended questions.
2.1 Research lessons: discussing methods
I noticed during the preparatory work that the questions I wanted to ask would be cumbersome or
impossible if we, me and the interviewee did not have fluidity in a common language. This limited
the kind of research I could conduct with the group, as we shall see. This is why I decided that I
needed to conduct my research in one of the languages I myself speak. Hiring an interpret would
have been too expensive. Besides I have had many years of experience working with an
interpretation agency and wanted to avoid the challenges I know arise from situations when it
comes to communicating through a third party. Though it can be done successfully as described by
Fiona M. Smith (2010, 85).
Some of the women participating in the NGO's activites had a very limited understanding of the
Swedish language and the NGO has a policy to work for a better comprehension of the Swedish
language in order to facilitate their members' participation and strengthen their agency in the
Swedish society. Towards that end I led a group in Swedish conversation during my internship
there. The discussions ranged from finding out meanings of words to values of all kinds. This gave
me the chance to try out some methods for my research, like pictograms (www.pictogram.se), focus
groups (Longhurst 2010,120), participant observation (Laurier 2010, 132-133) and interviews
(Longhurst 2010,119).
The settings for focus group and pictogram sessions was the classroom and time the participants'
regular time for Swedish conversation each week. My position in the class was that of teacher,
hence authority, whether I liked it or not (Smith 2010, 187-188). I tried to emphasise the democratic
nature of the 'study-circle' to counter this positionality by making a point out of asking the
participants what they like to do at our sessions and then honouring their wishes to the best of my
ability. My position regarding environmental awareness was made clear early on, so the women
could have perceived themselves as students of mine and therefore tried to provide the “correct”
answer” to my questions. Some of the women have also to some extent participated in the
environmental awareness campaign provided by the NGO and thus gained increased environmental
awareness themselves as well as recognition of some of the symbols used in my picture-cards (see
appendix 1 for the full set). We would really have needed a place on neutral ground, yet private
enough for undisturbed conversations for our meetings. This was not available.
Although the pictogram sorting was a very interesting method, I felt that there were far too many
pitfalls in how to choose the pictures, the interpretation of the participants intentions and indeed
how to get rich data (Charmaz 2009:14) from this. The focus group sessions were problematic
because of difficulties in finding topics that were open enough yet would still generate rich data for
me. The language barrier I feel was one reason for this problem, but also the interest in the group
would have needed to be more focussed for my purposes. Hence I decided to play to my strengths
in using the methods of participant observation (Laurier 2010, 132-133) and different kinds of
interview.
2.2 Participant observation
Participant observation blankets the entire research experience (Laurier 2010, 132-133). I kept field
diary during internship as well as took field-notes (Laurier 2010, 138) during all the other research
activities. I have used these observations to help me interpret my data from the other forms of
research and to analyse it.
In contrast to what Laurier describes (2010,135) I felt that I was not really regarded as an outsider
or even beginner at the organisation. Almost from the start I was regarded by the members of the
organisation as well as the employees as one of them, with all the advantages and disadvantages
that it brings. Just to mention one of each: on the negative side I had the same expectations of workperformance as the employees, regardless of my lacking knowledge of the organization. On the
positive side I was included in the warm camaraderie the employees shared at the organization.
2.3 introducing the interviewees
All interviewees have aliases and I have excluded such details that may identify them. All
interviews were conducted in Swedish, the quotes are my translations.
I used purposeful sampling in choosing my interviewees (Longhurst 2010, 123). I chose my
preparatory interviewees Anna and Kajsa according to either resource awareness due to economical
limitations or to outspoken ecological awareness. Anna grew up under very poor conditions in
Bucarest Romania and provides the angle of money scarcity to the issue. Kajsa, who is in her midthirties, has chosen a simple living with less money than her parents had. I think it is safe to call her
a downshifter, that is someone who has chosen to live more simply in counter-reaction to the work
and spend culture (Schor 1997, 111). After those first two interviews I settled for the last one of my
criteria and added a stated frustration over difficulties in reconciling one's lifestyle with one's
growing ecological awareness.
Alice, my case study, is in her late forties and has according to herself become increasingly aware
during the last few years of the ecological impacts of human activities and especially consumption.
Alice seems moderately affluent. This I base on observations of her home and style of clothes she
likes to wear, as well as comments she has made regarding that over time. Though Alice has a
university degree it is not related to ecological issues. She attributes her increased eco-awareness to
being involved with a campaign related to such matters.
2.4 Interviews
When I first met Alice she expressed both enthusiasm over trying to live more eco-consciously and
frustration over how some things keep tripping her up and setting her back. She mentioned
transports as one such thing. Our longer acquaintance allowed me to ask more intimate questions
than I could have otherwise. I have visited her in her home and received in addition to a house-tour,
a one and a half hour taped deep interview. I conducted three deep interviews in total, one with each
interviewee. The last of them was the main interview with Alice this April where all the questions
and aims had been worked through and analysed through the first two. The preparatory interviews
with Kajsa and Anna are from the winter when I was refining my thesis questions during the
practical applications course and I feel they provided both food for thought and clues on how to
proceed. They focussed on environmental awareness and resource awareness and how these things
change over the generations in the interviewees' lives. I wanted to explore the generational
difference in lifestyles and the role of identity, even national identity, in the views my interviewees
hold regarding their consumption. In the case of Anna she has roots in Romania and I wanted to
access comparisons between the life in the old country versus new while maintaining the personal
aspect of time and history. I consider this important for two reasons. One, the subject of foreign
origins may be sensitive, it is in my experience easier to approach via questions projected back in
time. Two, since the comparison is made honestly between different times you avoid trying to
compare the experience of living in one country while trying to judge the life in one's old country
when one is not in fact living there any-more. The matter of nostalgia and other things may skew
the comparison additionally.
These preparatory interviews as well as studying Charmaz samples of interview questions (2010,
30), helped me hone my questions and decide what aspects to leave aside for now, like generational
differences in lifestyle, ethnicity or emotional national identity. The last of these pops up
unexpectedly with Alice anyway. My preparations made clear that I needed to focus on life values
and how they are reflected in the interviewees lifestyle, as well as to outright ask what they perceive
as obstacles in realising an eco-conscious lifestyle. As a result I chose Alice upon the criteria that
she had previously been involved with an ecological awareness-campaign and that had given her
some thoughts and realizations regarding her own lifestyle. This was essential to me since I had
noticed that to get a meaningful interview around this issue the interviewee needs to have a personal
interest and previously processed knowledge around environmental issues. That was perhaps my
most important realization from my preparatory work.
Another thing that spoke for choosing Alice, was that I already knew her. We even started the
interview meeting with off the record gossip. This served to reassure the previously built up trust
between us and satisfied several social needs for both of us. Knowing her allowed me to get rich
data (Charmaz 2009:14) without worrying what would offend her and what not. I did worry that in
choosing Alice, I 'd be too cautious in asking my questions, since I rather like her and would like to
be friends with her. However I can see the benefits over-weighing, like being able to ask more
intimate questions than I would have dared had we not known and respected each other already. I
also noticed that she was quite comfortable in saying so, if I asked a question she didn't like. And
indeed when some of my questions made her uneasy she said so. I made sure to put her back in a
good mood and back into feeling good about herself when this happened. Not only to be decent but
also to increase her will to follow this through. She was very cooperative and generous and I got
rich material for my effort. Alice welcomed me into her home, gave me a full house-tour of her
home and invited me to sit in the sofa for some tea and pastries. She talked freely and with
introspection giving me three hours of her day and a lot of food for thought.
3 Framework of study
The spatio-temporal framework of the case study is a snapshot from the interviewees point of view,
extending back and forward in time by choice of the interviewee and in relation to the ecological
awareness discussed. The period of research extends from the autumn 2010 to the spring of 2011.
This period involves internship and participant observation in an international women's organization
in Malmö. Leading a Swedish conversions group, conducting research through methods described
in the methods part in this thesis.
I can't know what difference gender makes in the issue without having male participants as well. I
deemed however that since I am focussing on a case study, this wasn't necessary. I have been as
transparent as possible and described all the variables I could think of to position myself as well as
my participants within the framework of my thesis (Smith 2010,187). I do not consider it therefore
to be a problem that my preparatory research was also conducted with women only.
The organisation states as its purpose among other things, to promote democratic values, help better
their members' language skills, and to provide an opportunity to make friends and contacts. Several
workers of the organization, including the chairperson herself, said it out right during my internship
that they have a policy to support and help battered women to make contact with appropriate
authorities. This may not be the exclusive or primary outspoken motive for the organization, but has
proved to be an important one according to my informants on the issue. While I do not make any
assumptions on the participants empowerment or dis-empowerment, the delicate situation that some
of my participants may or may not be in, prompts me to be extra careful of their anonymity.
Arguably one is at disadvantage in a society where the language and the social codes are new or just
strange. The initial reason for selecting this organisation was to gain insight in the ecological
awareness in a group that is often depicted in media as marginalized both due to their gender and
immigrant background. I was also interested in the ecological awareness in this group because
many of them have limited access to community information due to language barriers. Because of
these barriers I failed to gain rich data (Charmaz 2009:14) within my original group, but by
snowballing (Longhurst 2010,124) I managed to find potential interviewees to choose from who
had some degree of environmental awareness, immigrant backgrounds and language skills in a
common language to elaborate complex thoughts. I wanted to avoid using an interpreter because it
would have involved among other things, a cost beyond my means. All interviews, as well as other
research activities are conducted in Swedish. I have translated myself the quotes of my interviewees
focussing on the meaning of their words rather than the exactness of them.
3.1 Theoretical framework
“The reproduction of social capital presupposes an unceasing effort of sociability, a continuous series of
exchanges in which recognition is endlessly affirmed and reaffirmed. This work, which implies expenditure of
time and energy and so, directly or indirectly, of economic capital, is not profitable or even conceivable unless
one invests in it a specific competence (knowledge of genealogical relationships and of real connections and
skill at using them, etc.) and an acquired disposition to acquire and maintain this competence, which are
themselves integral parts of this capital (Bourdieu 1984)“
Habitus, the automatic distinction and reaction in accordance to one's accustomed place in society.
Reflected in the way one talks or walks for example. An automated identification of class (Bourdieu
1979). I use the concept of habitus as the ability to read one's surrounding social interactions and to
embody a certain social position which is then unconsciously projected outward, but not as a static
reinforcement (King 2000, 421) but as a moving process rather like a river. Developing Heraclitus'
statement that a man can not step into the same river twice (thebigview.com). Even if the waters
you stepped in the last time have long since flown by when you step in the second time, you are in
the same river with its ecosystems and geography. I argue that a river is the process of water carried
from often several sources out to the sea. The process of the river passes several types of landscape
and acts accordingly, rushing down steep descents, meandering through planes and so on. Human
relationships and societies are affected by many variables and are perhaps even more unpredictable
than a river. Returning to habitus as a process of asserting and re-asserting one's status in a society,
paying attention to the rules and calls to order by one's peers, yet deciding actively whether to take
heed or not and in what way (King 2000, 431). And also taking in the possibility of miscalculations
of expected reactions of one's peers. This is possible if habitus is seen as a process rather than a
static social statement and projection of one's identity and place within or without, as the case may
well be, the society.
3.2 Social capital
Social capital is the aggregation of both “actual and potential resources which are linked to
possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual
acquaintance and recognition – or in other words, to membership in a group (Bourdieu 1984).“ In
other words, social capital is the potential of one's social network, including relatives.
3.3 National identity
Diaspora is described by Povrzanović Frykman (2001,14) simply put as living by choice in another
country. Diasporic consciousness “it it the connection elsewhere that makes a difference
here.”(Povrzanović Frykman 2001, 14) is about constructing identity living in diaspora. By meeting
others from the same country and reaffirming the identity thus through different cultural activities.
The importance of community and togetherness. Upon browsing literature on the subject I decided
that construction of national identity, while significant in identity building and thus also in
consumption, is such a large field of research in its own right that for reasons of time and space I
cannot dwell on it more. Thus I am treating the concept of emotional national identity only as it
relates to identity, habitus, and social capital.
3.4 Plenitude
Plenitude is a vision of a sustainable future involving not trade-offs or frugality, but a new
allocation of time, self provision, true materialism, and restoring social capital (Schor 2010, 4).
While Juliet Schor has based her conclusions on studies made mainly in the USA, I find that they
apply in Sweden as well. One example is that while the work load in USA is extreme in
comparison with Sweden, there has been according to media reports an increase of work time here
as well. The new allocation of time and self provision, means that instead of spending so much time
working for money to be able to consume, we would to a larger extent produce ourselves what we
consume (Schor 2010, 4-5). By true materialism she means that we become more environmentally
aware consumers (Schor 2010, 6)and also take care of our things, and mend them when they break
instead of buying new ones. Restoring social capital is what it sounds like, investing in relationships
and extending social networks (Schor 2010, 6-7).
3.5 Guilty consumer
“Greed as an aspect of consumption assumes a certain level of power to command goods and resources, and
guilt is the situational regret over doing this. By isolating the volition of the individual from its social context,
these visions mystify the distribution of power in consumption and focus inward rather than toward an
empathetic encounter with poorer and less empowered consumers' lives (Heyman 2005, 128).”
Josiah Heyman argues that the discussion regarding the increasing consumption of the richer
populations of the world is underpinned by assumptions of volition and personal choice (2005,113).
He means that when consumption is thought of in terms of volition as in “I want this car” and in
personal choice as in “I want this car” it is confined within the realm of greed and guilt. It also
reduces consumption to be only about conscious decision-making, leaving out such consumption as
sewage, electricity and water (Heyman 2005,113) he argues. I agree with the assessment that in
order to feel guilty and greedy it has to be conscious consumption and the more personal, the more
guilty the feeling. However the categories of water and electricity are actually quite conscious areas
of consumption for my case.
3.6 Time and space appropriation
“Long hours are a hallmark of the market; labor-saving technology frequently does not save time; and it is
capitalism, not industry that has been responsible for expanding work schedules (Schor 1991, 164).”
Juliet Schor speaks of how capitalism brought the vocabulary of economy to time (Schor 1991,
139). Wasting time, saving time and spending time, and that we in the process seem to have
forgotten the value of time. Modern consciousness of time has been developed hand in hand with
capitalism. Time and money became interchangeable (Schor 1991, 139-140). Social effects of the
commensurability of time and money, skewing something that is equally distributed twenty-four
hours a day for everyone, exchanged for money that is most unequally distributed (Schor 1991,
141). The sale of time is undermining its egalitarianism (Schor 1991, 141). Not all of her
conclusions are readily transformable into Swedish conditions, since we for example do have
legislations that guarantee five weeks of vacation. Schor (1991, 81-82) acknowledges the
differences between the U.S and Europe and says that working unions in Europe have made this
type of development possible. However according to my own experience working pace has
increased in Sweden too and the working time is encroaching upon the free time through modern
communications technology. Schor concludes that the circle of work and spend might, if left to
continue “for another round” may well bring us past the point of no return ecology wise (Schor
1991, 163).
Expensive investments on machinery encourages long workdays, because machinery standing still
is costly to the firm (Schor 1991, 59-60). Taking this to another level, Hornborg says that the time
and space appropriation, that is pricing the time and space of others lower than ours, is also the
driving force of the global terms of trade, giving us in the affluent world cheap fuel and raw
materials among other things (Hornborg 2009, 241). These are the local and global aspects of the
same issue. Locally the time of the workers is worth less than the time of high level executives for
example. Meaning that the workers who have low wages must work more, like Schor (1991)
describes to be able to maintain a certain living standard. The development that forces the vicious
work and spend circle on workers (Schor 1991 and 2010) is the same that on a global level pushes
down the prices for materials from poor countries (Hornborg 2009 and 2010). Time is evenly
distributed to everyone, Schor (191, 141) points out, everyone gets twenty-four hours a day, but the
price of the hours skew the distribution of that total equality. Hornborg argues that the machines as
well as the global conditions of trade contribute to hide the actual costs in time and space embodied
in the commodities and materials exchanged on the market. Thus also the price that the market is
prepared to pay for each good exchanged on the market contributes to hiding the actual costs in
embodied land and work time (Hornborg 2010, 144). In extension this also means that a zero-sum
game is orchestrated by means of unequal exchange where the wealth of the world in terms of
material distribution is redistributed to those with the most money to spend. The other aspect of this
is the environmental load displacement (Hornborg 2009, 245-246), which means simplified, that
those who can pay for it get the clean industries while those who can't get the dirty industries.
4 Findings: Obstacles and motivation
“Does it really make any difference what I buy? Does it help at all that I buy ecolabelled things? I ask myself
that sometimes. I think it's probably best not to dwell on this too much, I just ask myself how I'm feeling today,
do I want to save the world today or not? Yes? OK, so I'll take the KRAV- labelled today. That feels good.”
Alice
Points of impact that all interviewees talk about: shopping for food and clothes. Alice and Kajsa
included transportation. They both agree that it's important to put effort into teaching the children
about ecological impacts in a good way. For Anna it is more a matter of leading by example as her
mother did and as she is doing for her children. Kajsa is more detailed about teaching children about
how to respect nature and understand the ecological processes and impacts, because of her current
job.
I have found some interesting things regarding the perceived obstacles to following the ecological
conscience. Motivation is evidently important and it seems that for Alice, it is important to have
more than one reason or motivation, to change her behaviour.
Here are the themes that emerged from the interview: Trust in the eco-labelling and fear that it's not
true. Doubt in the usefulness of her mindful consumption coupled with doubting the anthropogenic
climate change. Health as a motivator for more eco-conscious lifestyle, 'saving the world', saving
money as a motivator, pride in her lifestyle achievements, social capital, identity, off-setting, fatigue
at feeling alone in her quest, the importance of sharing responsibility, guilt when realising some of
her motivators are superficial in her own eyes.
The themes I've found in my interview with Alice are sometimes presented with additional remarks
from the preparatory interviews, but mostly the findings are purely from my interview with Alice.
These things I found influencing her decisions negatively that is against the her ecological
conscience: being tired or stressed, feeling lonely in one's endeavour to follow one's ecological
conscience, fear of negative impact on one's identity and social capital, and doubt regarding one's
grounds for decision-making.
These are the positive influences: the feeling of shared responsibility (of the environment), certainty
that one's decisions are made on the grounds of solid facts, confirmation of one's personal identity
and one's membership/belonging to a group.
Figure 1. A photo taken of
the
whiteboard with my cell-
phone
at the end of a focus group
session talking about life
values. Health figured
strongly in our discussion.
The most important
motivation for Alice to follow her eco-consciousness is by her own words health “health comes
first, then saving the world.” She says the last with a smile, but during the interview I sense a deep,
if frustrated, caring for both the environment and the increasing numbers of poor in the world.
Health is topmost in her life values as well, together with happiness of herself and her family, but
she says that health must come first: ”if you have good health, then there's room for everything in
your life.” She says that it motivates her environmental engagement as well. She says that as long as
you and your near and dear are healthy you don't worry: “...but when I myself or someone dear to
me becomes I'll, I ask myself what is it I eat anyway?” Preservatives in food is something she finds
unsettling and this is in addition to the ecological benefits, the reason why she seldom buys ready
made food or canned preserves and the like.
When asked she says that the main factors she thinks about in her everyday life when it comes to
the environment are “electricity, chemicals and water.” This translates into always packing her
washing-machine full, never letting the tap run more than necessary, only using detergents that are
ecolabelled, even though she does admit, that the fabric softener she likes to use is not ecolabelled
“it just smells so good” she says, looking a bit shamefaced. Alice tells me she and her husband have
been using low energy light bulbs for many years and that this has been motivated by ultimately
saving a lot of money in the electricity bills. They even changed their home-appliances to new
energy efficient ones. Alice is pleased with this, because it does really show in the electricity bills.
She always uses the kettle when boiling water instead of the sauce pan and always puts a lid on
when cooking and so on.
4.1 Ecolabels: guidelines and doubt
“Credibility must not be harmed!”
Alice relies on the eco-labels to guide her, because she doesn't have deeper knowledge in ecology or
the impacts of human culture on ecology. This makes her vulnerable to doubt, what if the labels
aren't true? What if the climate change is not anthropogenic? This makes her afraid to find out
more, because she wants to believe the labelling and doesn't want to know anything that would take
that trusted guideline from her. At the same time, the doubt about the labels allow her to make offsets for for example meat products, in part because she doesn't know what she is paying for when
she is buying the much more expensive ecolabelled meat, and part because there is a lingering
doubt that maybe the labels are not quite as good as she hopes. I suppose in a way, if you fear you
are being conned, you are trying to at least minimize the economical loss.
Figure 4. Anna's pictogram
arrangement. This is what she said it
means: What happens with the eco-labels? When will they become cheaper? We'd need that.
Alice has a strong faith in the eco-labels. She is certain that they must be true, because she says that
they would stand too much to loose if people like herself lost faith in them. She says that as people's
awareness grows, so too must the eco-labels keep up their work. Besides “It would cause a domino
effect among other labels if one label cheats. If you can't trust one label, why could you trust
another one?”
4.2 Dinner-parties and food from the land
“Yes dear, it's all beautiful and tasty, but is it ecological?” Alice
When we talk about what she feels she could do better regarding her environmental awareness,
Alice starts reflecting over dinner-parties, as she loves to entertain:
“When I am entertaining I want everything to be very nice. I'm thinking that as long as everything looks nice
and tastes good , then everyone will be happy. How stupid really! That the matching napkins and tablecloth
would make the guests happy! Nobody ever asks about how the pig was slaughtered. My ecological concerns
fly out the window together with my price-awareness whenever I'm entertaining.” Alice
This realization brings her mood down and to lighten her mood. I remark that it could be considered
off-colour to ask about how the pig was slaughtered at the dinner-table. She laughs and immediately
comes up with the remark quoted below the topic.
Alice says that when it comes to food she doesn't always buy ecolabelled, especially not when the
price-difference is too big between the 'regular' stuff and the ecolabelled. She finds it especially
hard to motivate herself to buy ecolabelled meat, because it is so expensive. She then often justifies
to her self buying the cheaper meat by buying for example the eggs, milk and vegetables always
ecolabelled. She is off-setting.
After a break in the interview, Alice tells me that she used to buy milk and eggs from a farmer, but
that he sadly stopped for some reason. This brings her memories from her childhood in Poland,
where aunts and uncles living in the countryside would bring ham, eggs and chicken to her family
that lived in the city. “I have got that in me since then: the food needs to come from the land” she
says this with a quiet solemnity that resonates with her posture. Also Kajsa and Anna feel a strong
connection between food and land. Anna tells me how her mother used to buy all their food, among
other things live chicken, from the near by farmers market or even directly from a farmer they
knew. “Mother went to the market almost every day, so we had fresh ecological food every day” she
says proudly. Kajsa said that the most important thing she got with her from home is the
understanding of where everything comes from: “I learned that food comes from the land and that
you can make things at home, cheese, bread and so on.” Alice said that she thinks that children who
learn that food comes from the supermarket will continue to get their food from there the rest of
their lives. “Such is the force of habit” she says.
4.3 Consumption and identity
“I wish I dared to be myself more... Just imagine showing up at a vernissage in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt!”
Alice
We were talking about what Alice would like to be better at and her consumption of fashion items
came to her mind first. She got quite downcast when talking about how much she still shops
clothes, shoes and make-up. Alice did carefully point out that she now a days does recycle her old
clothes and even shops at second hand stores, which she didn't used to do before. Much of her
shopping she feels comes down to both vanity and peer pressure. Wanting to fit in and therefore
needing to get that new dress for the vernissage, where all her friends would be.
When I asked Alice about her emotional nationality, she thought for a long time before answering
“it depends”. After thirty years in Sweden she still felt Polish sometimes as well as Swedish. Alice
brought up her national identity in talking about social activities with her peers this is why it felt
relevant to connect it to identity and social capital. She said that some of her compatriots are “even
worse” than her when it comes to showing off, at the time we were talking about getting dressed up
at parties and social functions. She also said that even though there is a rising environmental
consciousness in Poland, for many people, like her parents, the consumption of foreign goods is
much more exciting than that of Polish goods. She laughingly said that even though many things
from IKEA are made in Poland, they are still more attractive for some than other Polish goods. This
she says is a leftover from the communist era, when there was no choice and everything was Polish.
This aspect of the identity could be analysed much more, but it would also demand additional
interviews. So I leave it as an important motivation in the identity and social capital department.
Alice also said when showing me her kitchen, that some of her peers had brought home some hand
crafted cupboards from Poland to refurbish their kitchens. Alice tells me that this is considered very
nice again, not only because of the nostalgia of being Polish but also because it is affordable
handicraft.
4.4 Travelling
“I know I should ride the bike instead, it would be better for my health... but the car is just sitting there and I
can afford to drive it.” Alice
I asked Alice about the aspects in life that have the biggest ecological impact in her opinion. She
brought up travelling by car and air-plane. Then she proceeded in making a thoughtful calculation
regarding travelling between Malmö and Stockholm.
“It really isn't that much faster to go by plane instead of by train: The X2000 takes four hours from city centre
to city centre. When you include travelling time to and from the airport, time for checking in, safety controls
and so on. Well, if you're lucky you may have gained an hour.”
After discussing this for a while, we both came to the conclusion that usually the higher price of the
train-tickets is the major deterrent in addition to the idea that you focus on just the hour in the air as
travel time.
The car then, is the most convenient and comfortable way of travelling to and from work.
Especially when the weather is rainy or windy. As mentioned before, Alice takes to the station 2 km
away and then she takes the train to the work. She is ashamed about this, she feels she should walk
or bike that short distance, but that would mean that she'd have to get up earlier in the morning.
Then she adds that the rain and wind would “wreck havoc on her hair and make-up” and that the
clothes would get wet. After thinking for a while she says angrily to her self that she probably is just
lazy.
4.5 Double motivators for action
Looking at the complexity of choice making as discerned from the interview with Alice it seems
like there are often two or more things to motivate a decision one way or the other. Several
motivators together make a better case: energy saving has been going on in Alice's household for
many years, because there is both the ecological benefit and the economical benefit. It works the
other way too: sleeping longer in the morning and then a comfortable car-ride to the station instead
of getting up earlier to bike in wind and rain to the station. Besides, some motivators have a long
term scope, where you don't see the benefits until later.
Long term motivators: health, by eating less preservatives and riding the bike to the station.
'saving the world' by buying fairtrade products, the effects are hard to see or even impossible,
looking at the news you can see that the poor only get poorer. Saving money on the electricity bill,
saving money by buying less gasoline.
Immediate motivators: saving money by buying cheaper products. Satisfaction in getting a
beautiful home or looking beautiful in new clothes or make-up. Positive reactions from guests and
friends upon the nice home/dress/food/decoration. Quick transportation to the station, no need to
plan or to get up earlier. Feeling of satisfaction to have made the 'right' decision, or making
something herself from the start like cheese, for example.
I have dubbed this phenomenon “double motivation” or “multi motivation” meaning that you have
two or several motivational reasons to either do something or not to. Economical gain can be a
strong motivation, but interestingly it doesn't seem to be enough on its own. Especially if there's
fear of loosing social capital in the bargain. That is if one fears that one's peers will react negatively
as a result of choosing the economical and eco-conscious option. If a change in lifestyle is expected
to bring both economical and social capital benefits, that means double motivation for the benefit of
that change. An action that follows the eco-consciusness of an individual and at the same time
affirms his or her habitus and identity has a far greater likeliness for follow through than one with
economical benefits and expected negative consequences in social capital.
No generalisations are intended as this is only a case study. I have no adequate material from the
preparatory work to contradict or strengthen this finding, mainly because I didn't ask the others the
questions that could have brought out this kind of material. According to what Alice tells me even
though there in fact would be double motivation to follow the eco-conscious option like, using
herbs from her own garden when cooking for her peers at a dinnerparty, that would be both cheap
and ecological. However, if the herbs don't look pretty enough, she still might discard them in
favour of shop herbs that are both more expensive and not ecolabelled. Generally I was surprised at
the strength of the influence of expected effects on social capital in this kind of decision-making. I
was expecting more economical motivations, but they seem not to be quite as important in this case.
The discarding of eco-conscious options because of social capital considerations in this case led to
regret and guilt upon realizing that during the interview.
4.6 Obstacles and excuses
Here are the obstacles and excuses as well as reactions that I found in my case study to be relevant
in the situations where choices are made.
Doubt: Alice brought up the the confusing refutes to anthropogenic global warming. And a
lingering fear of the eco-labels turning out to be a lie. She says that if she thinks about it too much
she might end up thinking something ridiculous like “what if there's preservatives in the milk?” and
then end up buying the cheese instead of buying the ecological milk and making her own cheese.
Kajsa had no doubts like these, she was entirely confident in her judgement of the situation and her
ability to choose the actions and products completely according to her conscience. I attribute the
lack of these kinds of doubts for Kajsa to her feeling secure in her profound knowledge of human
ecological connections. I do that because she never the once questioned her own basis of decisionmaking. Instead she focussed when talking about obstacles to living eco-consciously, on problems
to find the goods that both fit her criteria environmentally, but also are affordable for her in time and
money. She said it is difficult and time-consuming to for example find toys and clothes for her child
that are both affordable and sustainable.
The disheartened hero is a reaction of giving up. It is triggered by fear of being conned (what if
there's preservatives in the milk? I might as well buy the cheese ready made!) or by a feeling of
being alone in trying to save the world (it's time others did their part too, I can't save the world on
my own). The disheartened hero makes a bad choice contrary to their conscience but justifies it by
saying to themselves that they have done enough for now. The disheartened hero is guilty of
excusing him- or herself by off-setting, that is making a 'bad' choice because they made other 'good'
choices before. Being tired, feeling stressed or just feeling alone in trying to be an environmental
hero, triggers this reaction according to what Alice has told me.
Time: “now that I don't have a job, I have the time to do more for the environment. I have already
planned to plant more food in my garden, it is time for that now (April). And now if I'm not too
tired I do have the time to read every label I'm buying. I can be more meticulous about it” “I'm not
following it (what I learned about ecological impacts) absolutely, I mean sometimes I'm in a hurry
(Alice).” “It takes a lot of time to find the alternative and sustainable products (like toys and
clothes) (Kajsa)” Alice said that when travelling to Poland for instance time is the issue when
choosing whether to go by train or plane.
Economy: The motives for making over their kitchen included to get more energy efficient stove
and fridge, but also to get a better layout and a more beautiful kitchen. The makeover will save
money in the long run, but it also cost money immediately. The cheaper airline tickets weigh over
the decision whether to go by train or by air-plane when travelling within Sweden. The cheap meat
is a easier choice than the ecolabelled expensive one.
Togetherness: Alice tells that her husband is more meticulous about sorting the recyclable garbage
than she is. He chides her when she sometimes can't be bothered. “I think it is important that the
whole household are in on it together when doing these things. We need to pull together.” Says
Alice. Another aspect of this is the feeling of her being a bit of a pioneer in her peerage and her
family. “Someone needs to show the way” I get the feeling that while she doesn't mind being the
one to lead by example and inform her friends, she still gets a bit tired of it. “Not everyone believes
that this is even true.” she says, so I inform. Some friends have told her that she has got a 'work
related injury' from learning all these things about eco-labels. Kajsa told me about a potato-field
that they used to have in her home-village where everyone would plant and harvest together. The
practice was discontinued, when the potato prices fell. It got cheaper and less cumbersome for
everyone to buy their own potatoes from the store.
Fatigue: “There's so many things in the shops, so much to choose from. It is almost impossible to
choose the one that's best. For me the best means for my health and the environment (Alice).” Being
too tired to recycle or to read the labels. Too tired to bike instead of driving the car. “It's so hard
when you are tired! It should be easy to do all that! (Alice).”
Off-setting: “I know I buy too much clothes, but I console myself with that I do buy clothes second
hand now, I didn't use to do that. And I don't throw away my old clothes I recycle them. So they're
not entirely wasted, burned or something (laughs a little) they are at least recycled, someone gets to
use them.” Alice says “I buy all ecolabelled vegetables, eggs, and milk so I choose the cheap meat.”
4.7 Guilt and shame
“I don't like how this makes me feel, Piia! It feels like a confession!” Alice
What to do with all this guilt and shame popping up whenever an ecological flaw in her lifestyle is
revealed? It is there and needs to be acknowledged as a finding. Alice was very introspective during
the interview and earnest in her answers. In fact there were several instances during the interview
where I discerned shame or guilt from her either just in her posture or even by her saying it out
loud.
She gave me a guilty smile talking about the fabric softener she uses that isn't ecolabelled. She feels
guilty of being lazy talking about taking the car to the station. Considering her shopping habits,
dinner-parties, and floor makeovers, made her cringe in shame and mock chide me for making her
feel that way. I sympathise. I feel it too. I never asked follow up questions on the guilt issues. That
could be an error born from sympathy, from not wanting to make her feel even worse, and because I
want to be friends with Alice. These feelings came up and there probably isn't much to be done
about them. This is what she said at the end of the interview:
” You made me feel guilty about my lifestyle - at least right now. I know it will settle, but I wonder right now....
I'm questioning what kind of person I really am.” Alice
5 Discussion
Among the positive motivators I found health and 'saving the world'. These are motivations that
take a long time to show any effect if at all. Saving the world is said jokingly, but never the less
underlying it there is a desire to make a difference. The positive and negative effects to the health
are not immediately showing themselves. It takes days or weeks generally to feel for example more
energetic when you start exercising more. The same for the negative effect, if you stop taking daily
walks it will probably be at least a few days before you notice any difference in how you feel
physically and mentally. These are observations from my own life. The effects are not only long
term, but also diffuse. You might not immediately connect your feeling more tired to having quit
your daily walks.
In “plenitude” Schor argues for the economical and efficiency benefits of changing lifestyles
towards a more ecologically conscious one (Schor 2010, 2). She brings up health benefits and wellbeing among other things brought by a lifestyle change to plenitude. As Alice and my focus group
both pointed out, it is an important motivator even if when faced with double motivators for the
more comfortable option it can be cancelled out. The example in (Ryan and Durning 1997, 33).
about the car parking being provided for free, but there's nowhere to shower and change when one
bikes. Alice can sleep longer and doesn't have to worry about hair and make-up on rainy or windy
days, so that double motivator cancels out the health benefit of biking.
Conflicts between ideal and practice seems to have occurred when the ideal requires sacrifice of
time (biking instead of car) social capital (ruined clothes and make-up) and comfort (sleep, biking
instead of driving). Even though biking instead of driving would bring double benefits of better
health and lower ecological impact, the negative motivators of discomfort,earlier mornings and
bringing either extra clothes or change her style of clothing. Changing her style of clothing could
mean changing her habitus. She would also have to either put her make-up on at work or use less
and water-proof make-up. These changes seem to threaten her habitus and maybe even her social
capital. I think therefore that her not biking is not just about laziness but also about having to
change outer markers of habitus. Besides the biking itself is an outer marker itself. “What kind of
person am I ” Alice asked herself. Perhaps this is a good question to ask the self when
contemplating change of lifestyle. Am I the kind of person who bikes to the station? What does that
mean for my self image who do I become? To paraphrase Schor (1991, 57). Not only does one's
habitus decide what you consume and how, but it also works the other way, one's consumption is
part of one's becoming.
Time allocation connection to time appropriation? Second principle of plenitude (Schor 2010, 5)
self provision: Alice said she plans on growing more vegetables now that she is out of work and has
more time. Power over time, Alice lost her job, but now has time to develop an interest she
previously felt she didn't have time to do fully: growing more herbs, fruit and vegetables in her
garden. She also said that more time gives her more leisure to read all the labels if she wishes to and
in other ways be more eco-conscious in her consumption and lifestyle.
Regarding the level of knowledge, I think it is better to have a widespread common knowledge
about the reasons for why certain products cost so little. If it becomes common knowledge that they
cost so little because of unequal exchange and that we are rich in money because we are attributing
less value to the land and time of others (Hornborg 2009, 241).
Alice finds herself sometimes riddled with doubt both regarding the grounds of her decisionmaking which is the climate change among other things. And though she is often prompted by the
news on TV to buy more goods fair trade, she is also over whelmed by the growing numbers of
poor and the feeling of helplessness to do anything about it. By bringing the hidden inequality of
trade to the fore of the everyday consciousness, much in the same way that people accept that we
should not let toxins into our water or ground, because it finds its way to our bodies. So does the
unequal trade taint our lives too, according to me.
The stressful pace of work and spend culture gives us less time for life affirming activities like
making our own cheese, or growing our own tomatoes. We are too stressed out an weary at the end
of a workday or in the beginning of one, to choose to bike instead of driving, to read the labels of
the food we buy, to recycle, to cook our food from the start, to play with our children or to cook or
to garden with them. All three of my interviewees pointed our in different ways the importance of
teaching the children the important things in life. How can we emphasize the importance of doing
things together, if we so seldom have the strength or time to do the ordinary everyday things like
cooking and cleaning with our children? Or to teach them where food comes from, if we don't have
time or strength to even plant a little something for eating, like strawberries or salad on the balcony?
Falling back on old habits was one of the indirectly identified things by all my interviewees in
different ways, Kajsa talks about going back to doing things like her mother used to once she had a
child of her own. Alice talks about the habit of taking the car to the station and about how easy it is
to just shop at the supermarket, where you can find everything instead of looking for other options
more in accordance with her ecological consciousness.
5.1 Car vs bike?
“But I keep falling back into driving. Maybe it's because my company gives me free parking space for my car
but no place to shower and change after biking (Ryan and Durning 1997, 33).”
I will provide an abbreviated commodity chain on one of the details that most seemed to vex Alice,
her choice of car before bike each morning. I have used the Ryan and Durning research to provide a
generic impact for the production of both car and bike, but used the real amount of gasoline used by
the actual car owned by Alice to get a real connection to the actual interviewee. I chose not to re-do
the entire research myself because there was not enough time to do so and I estimated that a generic
average would serve the purpose just as well. I compare only on the steel which is the biggest single
component in both vehicles. The rest like toxic adhesives and plastics must be mentioned though I
cant go into detail here and now. It's the same with the process of production that goes on all over
the world. seems at least from Ryan and Durnings example (1997, 36) that the bike production may
be more localised and thus also save in transports.
I emailed Alice about it in the beginning of may and received a reply that her car is gasoline driven
and uses approximately 1 litre per 10 kilometres. This translates into 2 litre of gasoline each week
on the 2 km daily car ride to and from the station. An average bike weighs 13,6 kg (steel,
aluminium, rubber, and plastics) 6,8 kg is steel and made of scrap metal, generating small amounts
of gases, toxic laden dust and slag (Ryan and Durning 1997, 36). The car weighs 1455 kg and 801
kg of it is steel (Ryan and Durning 1997, 34). In contrast to the bike, the steel in the car did not
come entirely from scrap metal, but over half of it came from iron ore in an open pit mine with all
the ecological implications of pollution, long transports, energy use for furnaces and so on.
This may be an efficient way of conceptualizing the actual ecological impact everyday actions and
things cause. But it also fuels the guilt. If that guilt can be channelled to a better plan of action then
it may be good. But if you have no tools or choice to make any better decisions, then the guilt could
have the opposite effect and just bring out the disheartened hero. Let others do their bit, I can't do
any-more.
5.2 Off-setting
Saving up ecological credibility to oneself to be able to justify things such as travelling by air-plane
or buying cheap meat. Benefits either economically or holiday-treat for good behaviour. Used also
to indulge one's need for comfort. When there are double or multi motivators, like with the social
need to buy a new dress for a vernissage, the offsetting comes to play. Another motive for offsetting is to establish or reinforce one's identity or habitus.
The global view of the world serves to feed the disruptions of feedback-loops and the sense of
belonging. It also makes a person seem disempowered and helpless in front of the vast task of
“saving the world” all alone. Alice says that the times when she decides to buy cheap instead of
ecological she thinks “ I can't save the world alone” and she also thinks “haven't I done enough? All
the vegetables I've bought today are ecological.” The disheartened hero and accumulation of good
deeds for off-setting.
5.3 Second fundamental of plenitude
“The sense of limits implies forgetting the limits (Bourdieu 1979:4).”
Though Bourdieu talks about social limits inscribed into our minds, I come to think of limits and
rules of music. When learning to play jazz or dance flamenco you need of first learn the rules, then
in order to be creative you need to be able to forget them. The rules and limitations we are living
according to in our current cornucopious paradigm are ones that allow us to only figure our limits in
time and money (we consider our habitus and social capital of course). If we could learn a new set
of rules that take into account the limitations of our ecosystems so well that we can forget about it,
gain a sense of the limits, then we would perceive a limitless life in plenitude. In a way that would
be eco-consciousness embodied in our habitus.
Alice and her husband embarked on a costly renovation of their kitchen ostensibly to make it more
efficient both functionality and in energy consumption. This was motivated by the multi motivators
of expected positive reaction from their peers, that is social capital benefits, and to enforce Alice's
(possibly her husband's too), identity of being eco-conscious in saving energy through the more
efficient appliances as well as the economical motivator of saving money in the long run. This
decision would obviously not be possible for someone with more limited economical means. For an
individual of more limited means it could be even detrimental in terms of social capital, one could
be seen as showing off. This of course is not backed by my research, but a logical extension of my
finding that the expected detriments and benefits to social capital seem to be so important as to
override some other self-perceived important benefits.
Alice for example holds her health as a major motivator for decision-making. Indeed she mentioned
it as the most important life value as well as the strongest motivator for her growing eco-
consiousness. However she more often decides to ride the car to the train station instead of biking,
contrary to her certainty that biking would be better for her health and the environment. Here then
seems to be a double motivation to follow her conscience, even multi motivation, since it is cheaper
to bike than take the car. Then why doesn't she? She says it's because she is lazy and that driving
lets her sleep longer in the mornings. She even throws in some off-setting by saying “I do so many
other things that are good (for the environment).” As an afterthought she says defensively that
biking in rain and wind would ruin her clothes and make-up. This seems to be the motivator that
tips the balance in favour of the car. To bike for her health, the environment, and for economical
gain, she would need to change her make-up habits and style of clothing, this would impact her
identity and habitus. She would become someone else in her own eyes. This in turn would have an
impact on her social capital. An impact that is difficult to judge beforehand what it would be. That
is a scary prospect for most people. The unknown in how such a radical change in identity would be
received by her peers is an efficient deterrent. Importantly both these behaviours were commented
upon by Alice during the interview in strong terms of self-condemnation and guilt. The
accumulation of the obstacles she perceived led her to feeling bad about herself and calling herself
both lazy, vain and shallow.
Alice did connect her resource awareness to her upbringing, with knowing where the food
originated. But she didn't connect her acquired status in her peerage with that, rather the opposite: I
just have to have a new dress when going to the theatre or a vernissage (where I know I'll meet
others of my countrymen). So national identity is not connected to the environmental awareness as
such, but her personal identity of who she is seems to be connected to her environmentally
conscious actions “why can't I just be myself and show up in a vernissage in jeans and T-shirt?” and
“I feel bad when I don't recycle like I should.”
If it is true that Alice and others with her, would be swayed with overwhelming knowledge that
wouldn't permit her to go back to the environmentally detrimental choice, then presenting her with
the compelling evidence of a comparative commodity chain between car and bike, could tip the
balance. Although information is important for the choice of eco-aware behaviour according to
Alice and Kajsa, the insight of consequences is even more crucial. The connection of pollution and
chemicals with health detriments is so clearly distinguishable that Alice can't imagine using non
ecolabelled detergents.
Alice's identity seems to have changed some the past few years, friends or acquaintances say she's
had a 'work injury' from being involved with the eco-awareness project. The new identity demands
that she only wash full machines of clothes or dishes, that she boil the water in the kettle and that
she buy all her washing detergents ecolabelled. This new identity demands that she think of
environmental issues in her daily choices when buying food and clothes and when travelling. She
might not always make the best choice ecologically, but the awareness is there. We didn't talk much
about her old identity, cause I didn't perceive it until I was analysing, but comments hint towards a
change “health is the most important life value I have. The answer would have been different 20
years ago.” and the before mentioned “work-injury”.
Alice says she would choose health before vanity if she had to choose. She says this with a solemn
conviction and I believe her. Upon analysis of the interview I notice that she has confessed to
choosing otherwise. She says that she would like to bike to the station, but that she is lazy in
recognizing that it would be better for her health she still turns around and says “I hate biking in
wind and rain, it wreaks havoc on my clothes and make up!”. I don't think she lied in any of these
instances. Maybe we just like to label things after importance, like the group arranging picture-cards
did. Very few people would say that they put vanity before health and mean it. Realizing this, Alice
might actually start biking to the station, since not doing it would bring home the in her own eyes so
shameful vanity. When before she only recognized chiefly the laziness and the fact that “the car is
there and I can afford to drive it”, the thought about the make up was only an afterthought.
Alice was left at the crossroads of guilt and identity conflict. Maybe in part because the questions I
asked were about volition and personal choice (Heyman 2005,113): I asked her in different ways
what obstacles she perceives when she is trying to change her lifestyle according to her ecoawareness. The obstacles that emerged were guilt inducing and made her look lazy and vain in her
own eyes. Even greedy, when she questioned why on earth she had insisted on new flooring when
the old was just fine. Maybe the focus on volition and personal choice is the problem. Yes I think
we should feel responsible for our actions and lifestyle, but to what extent? Us feeling like lonely
heroes will only make us give up. Some work too much to have time to engage in their social
capital, which makes it hollow, maintained only by showing off on dinner-parties and other social
events. This causes fatigue and stress that easily brings out the disheartened hero, we give in. This
strengthens the BAU and perpetuates the constructions that hide time and space appropriation,
because we simply don't' have the time or energy to contemplate, much less put into practice our
eco-awareness.
Alice says at one point that it is almost impossible to make the right decision for your health and the
environment, because of the sheer amount of stuff on the shelves of the shops. A veritable
cornucopia one might say. The abundance of products offered to us is in it self perceived as an
obstacle to more eco-conscious consumption. As Alice put it “now that I don't have a job I have the
leisure to read every label if I choose to.” The time and money squeeze Juliet Schor talks about in
all the books I've referenced here, does seem to play an important role in keeping people too
stressed to really reflect over their consumption or lifestyles. With the low prices possible through
time and place appropriation, the abundance can be kept up in our shops making our choices more
difficult than they have to be. Alice says that labelling both ecological and health recommendation
labelling help her in the choices she makes daily. For her it is not only about money, when she
chooses the unlabelled cheaper option. Sometimes it is about making her guests happy or because
she feels that she can't save the world on her own, the feeling I have dubbed the disheartened hero.
It can also be about offsetting, the feeling that she has done so much already: let others do their part
too. The one area where she is absolutely adamant that she doesn't cheat is the detergents. I let the
fabric softener be the exception that confirms the rule. It is very easy to understand why one should
use non toxic detergents when health and environment is a big priority. Lest we forget, the choice of
detergent is a socially invisible consumption, but the fabric softener while invisible, does smell
good. That could be a reason for not letting go of that particular product.
5.4 The importance of joint effort and belonging
Alice said it: someone must lead the way, it is easier if you can do it together (and not having to
explain oneself all the time). Anna talked about dependence on other people, you might have to if
you have little money, “but as long as you understand other people and you can find happiness in
life it's all-right” she said. Kajsa talks about the community in her home-village where people used
to have a potato-field together. It became cumbersome in the long run and potatoes got cheaper to
buy than to try and organize this whole thing together. That's the other side of the togetherness... it's
hard to organize people, you've got to at least try and understand them. But it seems that my
interviewees long for more togetherness in their lives, both in making their own lifestyles more
ecologically minded more like their own vision of themselves in Kajsa's case, and in Alice's case to
share the worries of finding the produce she wants and encouraging her instead of being torn
between wanting to fit in and wanting to follow her ecological consciousness. While Kajsa seems to
have found her lifestyle within her identity Alice is trying to fit in her lifestyle into a fairly new-
found identity, that is still forming.
Kajsa talks about wanting to have the shop-bread just like her class-mates on school outings instead
of her mothers home-baked bread. Alice talks about her peers and how she plays with the idea of
showing up at a vernissage in jeans and T-shirt and how that would shock some of them. “but Piia
some of them are so much worse than me” about the need of getting some of her friends on board
by subtly gifting them fair-trade chocolate or asking if they have tried the 'svanen-labelled'
detergent.
Alice identified her wish to belong to a group of friends and acquaintances as one contributor to her
maintaining some behaviours that she knows give great ecological impact, like shopping new
clothes for important social occasions. The maintenance of her social capital demands she feels, that
she follow this accustomed behaviour. Also when having a dinner party somehow the happiness and
contentment of her guests obscure the ecological concerns that she ordinarily consults when
shopping and cooking. The existential dimension of identity building through consumption
(Horborg 2010, 25) touches upon the emotional nationality and its building and re-enforcement. It is
quite possible that just as our liberation from the static society creates a need for building our
identities thriugh consumption (Horborg 2010, 25), so could living in diaspora (Povrzanović
Frykman 2001, 14). After all that means in a very concrete way leaving part of your self-evident
identity behind, just as Hornborg (2010, 25) suggests is common in modern society.
The strong yearning for being part of community and doing things together can work both for and
against the motivation of following one's ecological conscience. So then restoring the social capital
(Schor 2010, 5) as a part of building a new future with plenitude would be of pivotal importance it
would seem.
5.5 The disheartened hero
Originates in the feeling of being alone with a huge task: saving the world. Used to justify not
complying to one's ecological convictions. Induced by postmodernist doubt and the general
cumbersomeness of trying to sort garbage, buy ecolabelled, buy second-hand, carefully trying to
convert friends and relatives for the cause “have you tried the ecolabelled detergent?” Like Alice
put it “it should be simple to do the right thing! Why do they make it so cumbersome?”
the detachment of the scientific and global view (Ingold) breeds both a yearning toward more
embededness like food from the land the connection of the spherical view and a disheartening of the
hero trying to save the world. Maybe this is more common with people who have had academical
training? Having been trained to shift from in-life experience to view from the outside looking in.
the view from the outside, while providing systemic connections it also provides a feeling of being
overwhelmed. My everyday actions spreading like rings on the water to the farthest corners of the
world? I wish I didn't know, I wish it wasn't true, I wish I didn't have to save the world myself... but
I don't, do I?
The detachment and separation of produce and actions from the time and space that produced them
creates both the setting for consumerism as well as disheartens the hero who wants to change his or
her behaviour.
The problem of inaction is many-fold: the fear of the unknown, that is lack of viable alternatives, is
fuelled by the uncertainty of the scope of climate change and underscored by the complexity of the
climate change problem. The fear of loosing what you have grows in tandem with the uncertainty of
alternatives. Hence confusing the issue around the actual impact of human activities on the ecology
like the 'climate sceptics', actually helps to perpetuate the BAU because no one wants to look the
fool. And this directly reinforces the assumption that the cheapest products actually are priced right.
The doubt together with the economical motivator may be enough to sway many in their decisionmaking by forming a double motivator against choosing the eco-conscious alternative.
5.6 Time and space appropriation in the name of identity
Juliet Schor states that “identity consumption is a two-way street (1991, 57).” While what we buy is
reflected by who we are, the reverse applies as well “What we buy also affects who we become
(Schor 1991, 57).” Hornborg says that the construction of our identities in the modern society
consists increasingly of consumption, since our identity is no longer defined in a more limited and
stationary local community (Hornborg 2010, 25). The initially relieving severing between identity,
family and neighbourhood creates according to Hornborg an emptiness within that needs to be filled
(2010, 25). He claims that the this is why the need for identity construction in the modern society as
become the most central existential project (Hornborg 2010, 25). This our existential emptiness has
increased with our purchasing power and maybe that is the strongest driving force behind the
modern economy (Hornborg 2010, 25).
The moral dimension of our everyday actions (Hornborg 2010, 27) are difficult to encompass for
the uninitiated, because of the effective severing of the actual production costs in terms of time and
acreage. The commensurability of everything by means of money is a factor that is additionally
obscuring the unequal global exchange of material and services (Hornborg 2010, 26) prompting us
in the affluent parts of the world to consume more. This has many effects, but on a personal level of
decision-making it can be pivotal of how we decide. Alice told me she has trouble justifying for
herself the purchase of considerably more expensive ecologically produced meat. This is when she
often resorts to off-setting by buying the vegetables, where the price difference is not so great
between the ecolabelled and non-labelled. Maybe for Alice the fear of finding out too much
encompasses not only the possibility that the ecolabelling would be faulty, but also in finding out
the total costs in production of for example meat. With total costs I am referring to land use,
exploitation of labour, animal suffering, the transportations, pollution, and energy use revealed by
commodity chains and other methods of investigation. Finding out about those costs would make it
difficult to feel satisfied with an offsetting deal again. If one considered this the offsetting between
ecolabelled vegetables and non-labelled meat would be hard pressed to trigger the feeling of
satisfaction at having been economical as well as moderately ecologically mindful.
I think that the satisfaction at being economical could have its roots in being mindful of one's
resources. In earlier times for us Swedes and at present time for many other people the resources
would have been the produce of land and making sure the household is being sustained and it's base
maintained (Gudeman et.al 1990). The commensurability of everything would have then confused
the issue, since the modern household seldom has other production-forms than selling one's own
time in exchange for money (Schor 2010). Modern unquestioned commensurability of everything
with money (Hornborg 2010, 26) time included (Schor 1991, 139), has then re-focussed the
satisfaction of being mindful of one's resources to encompassing only money.
Gudeman and Rivera express wonder over the frugality and thrift exercised by the Andean
smallholders to maintain themselves. However since they could not survive on simply producing
for the market and then buying their sustenance from the market (Gudeman et al 1990, 46), they
have to calculate what to grow for the market and the rest they will have to produce themselves. To
me this wonder demonstrates a cornucopian blindness for Hornborg's time and space appropriation
(Hornborg 2009, 241). Cornucopia being the modus operandi of unequal exchange that enables us
to live in the illusion that there is not only enough to everyone, but abundance to everyone
(Hornborg 2009). In fact it could be argued that we can't afford to only work for money and buy
everything on the market either any more (Schor 1991, 2010). We are increasingly working to
consume and consuming to be able to work (Schor 1991).
If we are accepting the responsibility of personal choice and volition, then maybe we should ask
ourselves just what kind of persons we are, or indeed what kind of persons we want to be. We could
also question the volition and responsibility laid upon us as consumers. Who are we to try and save
the world every day, when major decisions that affect millions in the world are made with only one
parameter to consider: profit.
6 Conclusion
Keeping the consumer believing in her agency as a conscious consumer, keeps her also feeling
guilty for the 'wrong' choices she makes and thus taking responsibility beyond her actual sphere of
influence. By making the right choices she helps making a better world, only somehow the poor get
poorer. But by this way pinning the guilt on the identity of the consumer the appropriation of time
and space are hidden behind the flows of money and the power relations are perpetuated.
6.1 What is hindering a person to pursue the lifestyle she finds optimal
for her ecological conviction?
Doubt of the foundations or tools of one's lifestyle change, seems to be a major obstacle for acting
out one's ecological awareness. The commensurability of everything encourages a thinking of offsetting whenever one gives in to the disheartened hero, that is feeling a responsibility to try and save
the world but also powerlessness to do so.
6.2 What motivates her when she decides whether or not to follow her
ecological conscience?
Interestingly while economical gain can be a strong motivator it is not enough on its own. It still
needs to have the support of expected beneficial impact on identity and social capital. Conceding
that the overall economical situation of the individual may influence the strength of economics as a
motivator. When making a change of lifestyle multiple motivators in favour of the change is needed
to actually make a change.
6.3 What, if anything, could be done about those obstacles?
Alice is herself already working on transmitting her awareness to her peers. Bringing in her circle of
friends to a joint awareness should help countering the difficulties of finding the solutions and
goods adequate for their mutual ecological awareness. Having a network to advice and to make
collective deals at the local shops is likely to be helpful in keeping the disheartened hero at bay. The
obstacle of doubt due to confusing information may be helped by more profound and widespread
knowledge and acknowledgement on unequal exchange. The guilt of consumption and greed might
possibly be alleviated by understanding the connections between the structures of time and space
appropriation both on a personal but also on a global level. However I doubt that the guilt will go
away completely.
6.4 The contribution of the study
This study has provided a peek at the reasoning of one individual regarding her struggles in making
changes in her lifestyle to accommodate her fairly recent and not yet very deep knowledge of the
ecological impacts that we humans cause. It has shown that while economical incitements may be
important, for this particular individual the recent knowledge was easily upset by both doubts of
factual backgrounds as well as fear that her peerage would react negatively and cause her social
capital to diminish. It could be interesting to see if virtual networks based on ecological awareness
can on some level counter those two obstacles.
7 References
Charmaz, Kathy 2006. Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative
Analysis. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
Clifford, Nicholas (editor). Valentine, Gill (editor) 2010. Key Methods in Geography. London: Sage
Publications Ltd.
Gudeman, S. & A. Rivera 1990. Conversations in Colombia: The Domestic Economy in Life and
Text. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Heyman, Josiah McC. 2005. “The Political Ecology of Consumption: Beyond Greed and Guilt.” In
Political Ecology Across Spaces, Scales, and Social Groups, edited by Susan Paulson and Lisa L.
Gezon, 111-132. New Jersey: Rutgers.
Hornborg, Alf. 2009. Zero-Sum World: Challenges in Conceptualizing Environmental Load
Displacement and Ecologically Unequal Exchange in the Modern World-System. International
Journal of Comparative Sociology, 50, pp. 237–262.
Hornborg, Alf. 2010. Myten om Maskinen: Essäer om Makt, Modernitet och Miljö. Göteborg:
Bokförlaget Daidalos AB.
King, Anthony. 2000. “Thinking with Bourdieu Against Bourdieu: A 'Practical' Critique of the
Habitus.” Sociological Theory 18:417-433.
Laurier, Eric. 2010. “Participant Observation.” In Key Methods in Geography,edited by Nicholas J.
Clifford and Gill Valentine, 133-148. London: Sage Publications.
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Povrzanović Frykman, Maja. 2001. “Challenges of Belonging in Diaspora and Exile: An
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Books.
Schor, Juliet. B. 2010. Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth. New York: The Penguin
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8 Appendices
Interview-questions and other material that may be helpful.
8.1 Pictogram
This arrangement was quite popular: order of importance. Another popular arrangement was that of
dialogue, very often formed as a question and answer. Sometimes the question is like here “what is
important?”
#7. x. born in 1956 in Vietnam. 20 years in Sweden. Nationality Swedish. Level of education:
grundskola (in Sweden 9 years, equals approximately primary school + junior high school). I feel
Swedish.
Arrangement top to bottom left to right:
b, a, c, e, d, f, g.
What is important (b)?
a= important, c=expensive, e=cheap and good, d, f=sometimes cheap means bad quality, g=
sometimes time isn't important.
I chose this arrangement, because it shows all the picture cards.
8.2 Questions for Alice
1.
Hur resonerar du kring dina livsvärderingar?
2.
vad är ekologiskt/miljömedvetet för dig?
3.
när du tänker på din vardag och miljömedvetenhet, vad tänker du på då?
4.
vilka faktorer påverkar din vardag mest?
5.
vad tycker du har påverkat dina livsvärderingar mest?
6.
Jag ber Alice lista sådant hon gör som hon är stolt över.
7.
Har dina värderingar förändrats sedan miljömedvetenhetsprojektet?
8.
Upplever du någon skillnad i din egen konsumtion och livsstil mellan nu och då (före och
efter projektet)? Vad?
9.
Vad har påverkat dig mest angående din livsstil?
10.
vilka är dina främsta hinder för att kunna leva så ekologiskt som du vill?