Bringing the circular economy home – Insights from socio-technical perspectives on everyday consumption

Transitions toward a circular economy require a nuanced understanding of how change plays out in households in relation to the role of consumers and daily consumption practices. However, little policy and research attention has been paid to the complexities of achieving necessary transformations in...

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Main Authors: Mary Greene, Kersty Hobson, Melanie Jaeger-Erben
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-03-01
Series:Cleaner and Responsible Consumption
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266678432300058X
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author Mary Greene
Kersty Hobson
Melanie Jaeger-Erben
author_facet Mary Greene
Kersty Hobson
Melanie Jaeger-Erben
author_sort Mary Greene
collection DOAJ
description Transitions toward a circular economy require a nuanced understanding of how change plays out in households in relation to the role of consumers and daily consumption practices. However, little policy and research attention has been paid to the complexities of achieving necessary transformations in everyday cultures of consumption and the possible challenges faced by citizens and householders in achieving a circular economy. As a result, we know little about how circular consumption practices are already emerging in everyday life and can be scaled up across society. Additionally, critical gaps in understanding exist concerning how rebound and spillover effects occur in daily practices and the role of social and material contexts in configuring possibilities for circular consumption. Addressing these gaps, we develop an agenda for attending to the social embeddedness and complexity of participating in the circular economy. This agenda includes several critical elements, including the examination of routine and habitual aspects of social life, dynamics of rebound and spillover effects within interconnected practices, and the impact of institutional-material arrangements and provisioning systems on how consumers use services and products in the performance of social practices. In discussing these elements we outline research gaps and recommendations for future CE policy and research that better appreciates the social and material dynamics of everyday life, with the aim of addressing critical scientific and societal knowledge gaps concerning circular consumption transformations.
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spelling doaj.art-8741b862cf744797be616a45723e6dae2024-03-23T06:26:21ZengElsevierCleaner and Responsible Consumption2666-78432024-03-0112100157Bringing the circular economy home – Insights from socio-technical perspectives on everyday consumptionMary Greene0Kersty Hobson1Melanie Jaeger-Erben2Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University, the Netherlands; Corresponding author.School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building, King Edwards VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3WA, UKDepartment of Technical and Environmental Sociology, Brandenburg University of Technology, UKTransitions toward a circular economy require a nuanced understanding of how change plays out in households in relation to the role of consumers and daily consumption practices. However, little policy and research attention has been paid to the complexities of achieving necessary transformations in everyday cultures of consumption and the possible challenges faced by citizens and householders in achieving a circular economy. As a result, we know little about how circular consumption practices are already emerging in everyday life and can be scaled up across society. Additionally, critical gaps in understanding exist concerning how rebound and spillover effects occur in daily practices and the role of social and material contexts in configuring possibilities for circular consumption. Addressing these gaps, we develop an agenda for attending to the social embeddedness and complexity of participating in the circular economy. This agenda includes several critical elements, including the examination of routine and habitual aspects of social life, dynamics of rebound and spillover effects within interconnected practices, and the impact of institutional-material arrangements and provisioning systems on how consumers use services and products in the performance of social practices. In discussing these elements we outline research gaps and recommendations for future CE policy and research that better appreciates the social and material dynamics of everyday life, with the aim of addressing critical scientific and societal knowledge gaps concerning circular consumption transformations.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266678432300058XCircular economyCircular consumptionSocial practice theorySociology of sustainable consumptionResearch agenda
spellingShingle Mary Greene
Kersty Hobson
Melanie Jaeger-Erben
Bringing the circular economy home – Insights from socio-technical perspectives on everyday consumption
Cleaner and Responsible Consumption
Circular economy
Circular consumption
Social practice theory
Sociology of sustainable consumption
Research agenda
title Bringing the circular economy home – Insights from socio-technical perspectives on everyday consumption
title_full Bringing the circular economy home – Insights from socio-technical perspectives on everyday consumption
title_fullStr Bringing the circular economy home – Insights from socio-technical perspectives on everyday consumption
title_full_unstemmed Bringing the circular economy home – Insights from socio-technical perspectives on everyday consumption
title_short Bringing the circular economy home – Insights from socio-technical perspectives on everyday consumption
title_sort bringing the circular economy home insights from socio technical perspectives on everyday consumption
topic Circular economy
Circular consumption
Social practice theory
Sociology of sustainable consumption
Research agenda
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266678432300058X
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