Environmental Policy and Household Behaviour: Sustainability and Everyday Life / Edition 1

by Patrik Soderholm

Overview

Our behavior in our own homes—our recycling habits, consumer choices and transport preferences—all have a huge impact on the environment, locally and globally. Governments across the world are trying to formulate and implement policies to encourage and enforce more sustainable household actions. Yet so often these policies fail to have the desired effects because of a lack of understanding of the complex interplay of policy and individual behavior.

This book examines this interplay, looking at the role of values, attitudes and constraints in the links between policy and changing behavior at the household level. The first part of the book explores the theoretical background looking at the politics of lifestyles and lifestyle change, policy legitimacy and barriers and facilitators for pro-environmental behavior. The second part is made up of in-depth case studies from Sweden—one of the fore-running countries in this area—examining three main types of household behavior: waste and recycling; consumption and labeling; and transportation choices. Within these case studies, the contributors examine what policy initiatives have and haven't worked and the role of values and constraints in those processes.

This is the first inter-disciplinary, in-depth look at how environmental policy enters the private, domestic sphere. The theoretical insights and policy guidance the book offers will be vital in the drive to generate behavior change at the household level and the move towards sustainable societies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781844078974
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/04/2010
Edition description:	1
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Patrik Söderholm is Professor of Economics at Luleå University of Technology.

Table of Contents

1: Environmental Policy and Household Behaviour: An Introduction to the Volume Part I: Environmental Policy and the Household: Conceptual Issues 2: The Swedish Environmental Norm: Balancing Environmental Obligations and the Pursuit of Individual Lifestyles 3: Dealing with environmental Responsibilities: Living Everyday Life as Political Participation 4: Sticks, Carrots and Legitimate Policies: Effectiveness and Acceptance in Environmental Public Policy 5: Barriers and Facilitators for Pro-environmental Behaviour Part II: Empirical Analyses of the Swedish Case 6: Walk the Talk for Sustainable Everyday Life: Experiences from Eco-village Living in Sweden 7: Policy-driven Socio-technical Structures and Swedish Households' Consumption of Housing and Transport since the 1950s 8: Shared or Individual Responsibility? Eco-labelling and Consumer Choice in Sweden 9: Household Recycling and the Influence of Norms and Convenience 10: Driving Forces and Constraints to Sustainable Household Travel Behaviour Part III: Concluding Part 11: Addressing Environmental Concern at the Household Level: Concluding Remarks Index

Editorial Reviews

'Household activities account for about a quarter of our CO2 emissions yet relatively little research attention has been paid to this vital arena. The combination of theoretical insights and empirical underpinnings presented here is unparalleled. The SHARP team has provided researchers with an indispensable framework for future studies and policy makers will find a wealth of grounded research here on which to base informed policy.'
Professor Andrew Dobson, Keele University, UK

From the Publisher