1st Edition
Individual and Structural Determinants of Environmental Practice
During recent years, there has been a growing awareness that a better understanding of human activities and the behavioural components of environmental problems is needed. This volume brings together psychologists, philosophers, sociologists, historians of technology and economics, and management experts to identify and examine the rules and motives that govern the environmental behaviour of individuals, households, organizations and society as a whole. Illustrated with case studies from Scandinavia, it shows how behaviours with negative or positive environmental effects are often performed without such consequences in mind. The book discusses how change towards positive environmental behaviour often conflicts with deep-rooted habits as well as exploring the importance for environmental practice of different everyday contexts. By presenting this multi-disciplinary analysis, the volume provides a comprehensive understanding of how behavioural change in relation to the environment can come about and how this can be integrated in the political framework.
Biography
Mona Martensson is Associate Professor at Stockholm University, Sweden.
'This book brings together recent research from Sweden relevant to promoting pro-environmental behavior. It offers valuable insights about tools for change at all levels of social action from the individual to the nation-state and makes some significant research available for the first time in the English-language literature.' Paul C. Stern, Director, Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change, U.S. National Research Council, USA 'The contributions to this unique multidisciplinary volume clarify how environmentally relevant behaviors - from the individual to the corporate level - are embedded in complex social, cultural and technological systems, making it difficult to modify them via simplistic strategies such as information campaigns requesting voluntary compliance. In the process they offer valuable insights for the development of more effective policies for promoting ecologically sustainable behaviors.' Professor Riley E. Dunlap, Ã…bo Akademi University, Finland 'Anders Biel, Bengt Hansson, and Mona Martensson bring together different perspectives on the "determinants of environmental practice" ... their volume will stimulate the ongoing discussion of the driving forces and the barriers of environmentally responsible behaviour.' Professor Andreas Diekmann, ETH Zurich, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology 'A distinguishing feature of this book is that it adopts a truly multi-disciplinary perspective on environmental problems and behavioural change...Thereby, this book brings forth the importance of attending to environmental behaviour at different levels in society: individual or household, organizational and societal.' International Journal of Environment and Pollution '...this book makes clear the development of potential solutions requires an understanding of the individual and structural determinants of environmental practice.' European Spatial Research and Policy
