A meta-ethnography to synthesise household cultural research for climate change response

Abstract

Cultural change is critical to climate change responses, but the in-depth qualitative research that investigates culture is necessarily conducted at scales difficult to integrate with policy. A focus of climate change mitigation and adaptation is affluent developed world households. Adapting methods used elsewhere in social science, we report and assess a meta-ethnography of household sustainability research, scaling up findings from 12 studies encompassing 276 Australian households. Seven themes are dominant: family concerns are central to household practice; adaptiveness is contingent but more pervasive than often assumed; households make sense of climate change not through abstract arguments, but through physical resources and materials; boundaries of the home space are dynamic and subjective; daily time is an important currency; paradoxes abound among everyday practice; and privacy and a sense of autonomy are prioritised. Insights from the method include new light on familiar themes when seen through an environmental lens, thickening and triangulation of existing research, and a stronger basis for international comparisons. Some findings have straightforward application to policy, others identify potential areas of risk and resistance, others still are more conceptual. We conclude the method has considerable potential and is worth developing further, providing a critical perspective is maintained. practice; adaptiveness to interruption and unforeseen events is contingent, but more pervasive than often assumed; households make sense of the world (and climate change) not through abstract arguments, but through physical resources, objects and materials; boundaries of the home space are dynamic and subjective; daily time is an important currency; paradoxes abound among everyday practice; and privacy and a sense of autonomy are prioritised. We assess the method against two criteria, whether it generates new insights and is relevant for climate change response. Insights include new light on familiar themes when seen through an environmental lens, thickening and triangulation of existing research, and a stronger basis for international comparisons. On relevance, findings are uneven. Some have straightforward application to policy, others identify potential areas of risk and resistance, others still are more conceptual. We conclude the method has considerable potential and is worth developing further, providing a critical perspective is maintained.

Empathy, place and identity interactions for sustainability

“…Beyond empathy for particular people, animals or plants, research has also shown that strong attachment can lead to direct empathy for a particular place, in turn leading to pro-environmental intentions for the conservation and protection of that place. Individuals' relation to place, including their emotional attachments have, for example, explained how individuals adapt and mitigate environmental change (Singer and Klimecki, 2014;Butler et al, 2015;Marshall et al 2012;Head et al 2016). In parallel, research on issues of identity related to occupation and lifecourse, to citizenship and belonging, has begun to examine societal responses to environmental challenges (Whitmarsh and O'Neill, 2010;Clayton 2003;Rose, 1995).…”

Wives influence climate change mitigation behaviours in married-couple households: insights from Taiwan

“…Nevertheless, several recent studies have focussed on the influence of interpersonal relationships on climate change beliefs and mitigation behaviours (Hannibal and Vedlitz 2018, Goldberg et al 2019. Many mitigation behaviours are performed within households; thus, how household members discuss, communicate, make decisions related to, and perform mitigation behaviours warrant investigation (Head et al 2016, Hung 2017. Although a recent study demonstrated how educational interventions of children provide an age-related window that influences climate change concerns among their parents (Lawson et al 2019), studies investigating how interactions between couples influence each other's climate change beliefs and associated behaviours remain scant.…”

Systematic reviews of qualitative evidence for environmental policy and management: an overview of different methodological options

“…In the conservation, this method could be used to understand how, for example, local communities experience conservation interventions and how this influences their acceptance of conservation interventions. Head and colleagues [63] used meta-ethnography to understand dimensions of household-level everyday life that have implications for climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.…”