Social Practices, Intervention and Sustainability Beyond behaviour change

In an era of dramatic environmental change, social change is desperately needed to curb burgeoning consumption. Many calls to action have focused on individual behaviour or technological innovation, with relative silence from the social sciences on other modes and methods of intervening in social life. This book shows how we can go beyond behaviour change in the pursuit of sustainability. Inspired by the ‘practice turn’ in consumption studies, this interdisciplinary book looks through the lens of social practice theory to explore important and timely questions about how to intervene in social life. It discusses a range of applied sustainability topics including energy consumption, housing provision, water demand, transport, climate change, curbside recycling and smart grids, seeking to redefine what intervention is, how it happens, and who or what can intervene to address the growing list of environmental calamities facing contemporary societies. These issues are explored through a range of specific case studies from Australia, the UK and the US, providing theoretical insights that are of international relevance. The book will be of interest to researchers and students in the fields of sociology, consumption studies, environmental studies, geography, and science and technology studies, as well as policy makers and practitioners seeking to intervene in social life for sustainability.

IntroductionYolande Strengers and Cecily Maller Part 1:Interventions in Theory 1. Practices, governance and sustainabilityTheodore Schatzki 2. Linking low carbon policy and social practiceElizabeth Shove 3. Beyond individual responsibility: Social practice, capabilities and the right to environmentally sustainable ways of livingGordon Walker Part 2: Intervening through policies and programs 4. Beyond behaviour change: Practical applications of social practice theory in behaviour change programsYolande Strengers, Susie Moloney, Cecily Maller and Ralph Horne 5. Interventions in practices: Sustainable mobility policies in EnglandNicola Spurling and Andrew McMeekin 6. Governing and governed by practices: Exploring interventions in low-carbon housing policy and practiceRachel Macrorie, Chris Foulds and Tom Hargreaves 7. Smart grids and the governing of energy use: Reconfiguring practices?Harriet Bulkeley, Gareth Powells, Sandra Bell and Steve Lyon 8. The practices of material divestment: Extending the life of domestic durable goodsAndrew Glover Part 3: Innovative interventions 9. Resurrecting sustainable practices: Using memories of the past to intervene in the futureCecily Maller and Yolande Strengers 10. Flow and intervention in everyday life: Situating practicesSarah Pink and Kerstin Leder-Mackley 11. Methods as intervention: Intervening in practice through quantitative and mixed methodologiesAlison Browne, Will Medd, Ben Anderson and Martin Pullinger Conclusion: Transforming practice interventions Cecily Maller and Yolande Strengers

Yolande Strengers is a Senior Lecturer at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia and co-leader of the Beyond Behaviour Change Research Program in the Centre for Urban Research. Cecily Maller is a Senior Research Fellow at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia and co-leader of the Beyond Behaviour Change Research Program in the Centre for Urban Research.