Taking the lead or following norms? Examining intersections of power in sustainability transitions in Swedish housing associations

IF 2.4 Q3 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Environmental Sociology Pub Date : 2021-10-30 DOI:10.1080/23251042.2021.1997386

Pernilla Hagbert, Liisa Perjo, Åsa Nyblom

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Abstract

ABSTRACT In this paper, we explore narratives of sustainability in housing and everyday life, positing the home as an ‘opportunity space’ for sustainability transitions. Case studies of three Swedish housing associations provide empirical insights on how sustainability is understood and practiced among residents. Addressing aspects of power and problem framing in sustainability transitions, we analyse how sustainability engagements in the associations are shaped by intersecting discourses, power relations and norms relating to age, gender, class and ethnicity. The analysis suggests that reflexivity on sustainability in the associations on one hand links to different sustainability approaches, which relate to assumptions regarding who can become engaged and the organisation of the associations’ work. On the other hand, narratives and practices of ‘doing sustainability’ are made sense of in different ways, where issues of for whom, the type of knowledge that is premiered, and the ‘upscaling’ of initiatives pose challenges for a more inclusive and transformative approach to sustainability in housing associations. Taken together, this creates different conditions for sustainability transitions in housing and everyday life, shaped both by norms of who and what is seen as sustainable, and by structures that outline the space for action for the associations and their residents.

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带头还是遵循规范？研究瑞典住房协会可持续性转型中的权力交叉

摘要在本文中，我们探讨了住房和日常生活中的可持续性叙事，将住宅定位为可持续发展转型的“机会空间”。瑞典三个住房协会的案例研究为居民如何理解和实践可持续性提供了经验见解。针对可持续性转型中的权力和问题框架，我们分析了协会中的可持续性参与是如何通过与年龄、性别、阶级和种族相关的交叉话语、权力关系和规范来形成的。分析表明，协会对可持续性的反思一方面与不同的可持续性方法有关，这些方法与关于谁可以参与和协会工作组织的假设有关。另一方面，“做可持续性”的叙述和实践有不同的意义，为谁服务、首次发布的知识类型以及举措的“升级”等问题对住房协会采取更具包容性和变革性的可持续性方法提出了挑战。总之，这为住房和日常生活中的可持续性转变创造了不同的条件，既有谁和什么是可持续的规范，也有为协会及其居民勾勒行动空间的结构。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Environmental Sociology ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES-

CiteScore

4.60

自引率

12.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Environmental Sociology is dedicated to applying and advancing the sociological imagination in relation to a wide variety of environmental challenges, controversies and issues, at every level from the global to local, from ‘world culture’ to diverse local perspectives. As an international, peer-reviewed scholarly journal, Environmental Sociology aims to stretch the conceptual and theoretical boundaries of both environmental and mainstream sociology, to highlight the relevance of sociological research for environmental policy and management, to disseminate the results of sociological research, and to engage in productive dialogue and debate with other disciplines in the social, natural and ecological sciences. Contributions may utilize a variety of theoretical orientations including, but not restricted to: critical theory, cultural sociology, ecofeminism, ecological modernization, environmental justice, organizational sociology, political ecology, political economy, post-colonial studies, risk theory, social psychology, science and technology studies, globalization, world-systems analysis, and so on. Cross- and transdisciplinary contributions are welcome where they demonstrate a novel attempt to understand social-ecological relationships in a manner that engages with the core concerns of sociology in social relationships, institutions, practices and processes. All methodological approaches in the environmental social sciences – qualitative, quantitative, integrative, spatial, policy analysis, etc. – are welcomed. Environmental Sociology welcomes high-quality submissions from scholars around the world.