Framing Devices in the Creation of Environmental Responsibility: A Qualitative Study from Sweden

Abstract

Abstract:The aim of this article is to analyze the relationship between identity work for environmental responsibility and sustainable development in relation to an ecological master frame. The material is based on a case study with Swedish householders and focusses on the interviewees identity work in relation to specific and detailed environmentally friendly activities. The argument put forth is that individuals construct what is possible and reasonable by identifying themselves in relation to the multitude of others and by doing certain activities. The conclusions suggest that the householders consider themselves to have a responsibility for the environment, but that they do enough by performing specific activities such as recycling. Thereby the study shows how the individuals present their own ideas and actions in relation to an ecological master frame.

Om miljöproblemen hänger på mig : Individer förhandlar sitt ansvar för miljön

“…En annan närliggande studie i en svensk kontext är Karin Skills (2008) Skill & Gyberg, 2010). Skill (2008) menar att handlingsutrymmet kännetecknades av en frihet från att agera miljövänligt.…”

Nice Save: The Moral Economies of Recycling in England and Sweden

“…Following the 'expert' interviews, a household study was undertaken in 2012 with thirty households in England, 2 to uncover how recycling is practically achieved on an everyday basis and consumers' reflections on their participation. Although a household study was not conducted in Sweden, I draw on two major qualitative studies when discussing the organisation and understandings of recycling by consumers in Sweden (Ewert, Henriksson et al 2009;Skill, 2008;Skill & Gyberg 2010). 3 The research design thus allows for the moral economy of recycling to be explored at both the institutional and individual level.…”

“…There is a sense of a collective duty amongst Swedish Part of this environmental morality encompasses the idea of resource stewardship and the protection of the environment for future generations. When asked why they thought recycling was important, many referred to their own children and grandchildren and the need to protect the environment for them (Skill and Gyberg, 2010 Sweden is a world leader in recycling and we will get even better. Now all soft plastic packaging is recyclable.…”

“…Interestingly, those who throw their recyclable materials into the regular waste are not stigmatized as the 'irresponsible other' (Skill and Gyberg, 2010). It is those who 'free ride the system out of economic interest, who littered and left recyclable goods at other places than at the 16 boundary drawing reflects existing socio-economic and cultural boundaries (Sayer, 2005).…”

The What, Who, and How of Ecological Action Space

“…It has already been mentioned that the plentiful literature on environmental and sustainability discourse has come to focus on individuals and their choices and agency. Even if the idea of individual responsibility exists in society, many times householders also know how to relieve themselves of the responsibility through different "excuses" [38,39], they relate to the (often moralistic) environmental discourse. Specific segments of activities can excuse other-less environmentally friendly-activities that are considered as interchangeable.…”