Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1080/09644016.2018.1448559
Document accepted manuscript
Title (Primary) Social representations of governance for change towards sustainability: perspectives of sustainability advocates
Author Fischer, A.; Spekkink, W.; Polzin, C.; Díaz-Ayude, A.; Brizi, A.; Macsinga, I.
Source Titel Environmental Politics
Year 2018
Department UPOL
Volume 27
Issue 4
Page From 621
Page To 643
Language englisch
Keywords Community initiatives; environmental governance; grassroots; practices; social psychology; transition management
UFZ wide themes RU6;
Abstract There is a substantial body of literature on public understandings of large-scale ‘environmental’ phenomena such as climate change and resource degradation. At the same time, political science and economics analyse the governance arrangements to deal with such issues. These realms of research rarely meet: there has been little research into people’s understandings of the governance of environmental change. This study adds a psychological perspective to governance research by investigating social representations of governance that promotes societal change towards sustainability, and related practices. It examines data from qualitative interviews with sustainability-interested people in seven European countries (n = 105). The analysis identified building blocks of representations suitable as an analytical framework for future research on governance representations. The diversity of their content reflected a range of pathways to societal change. Representations often seemed to have a creative function as a guiding vision for individuals’ own practices, but their wider transformative potential was constrained.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=20021
Fischer, A., Spekkink, W., Polzin, C., Díaz-Ayude, A., Brizi, A., Macsinga, I. (2018):
Social representations of governance for change towards sustainability: perspectives of sustainability advocates
Environ. Polit. 27 (4), 621 - 643 10.1080/09644016.2018.1448559