How to measure progress towards a wellbeing economy: distinguishing genuine advances from 'window dressing'

McCartney, Gerry; Hensher, Martin; Trebeck, Katherine

doi:10.17061/phrp3322309

Cited by 8 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As such, focusing the direction of descriptive norms toward wellbeing, rather than consumption, may prioritise existing, and fulfilling, lower-carbon lifestyles (Pettfor et al, 2023;Schanes et al, 2016;Wang et al, 2021), and may help orient social norms towards sufficiency and wellbeing rather than overconsumption (Vogel et al, 2021). Future research may explore whether such a shift in norms could facilitate a public discourse that considers social and ecological benefits of post-growth or wellbeing-oriented economies (Hickel et al, 2021;McCartney et al, 2023;Raworth, 2017).…”

Section: Theoretical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A low-carbon future? Individuals with high socioeconomic status in the UK show little willingness to change high-carbon lifestyles for climate change mitigation

Duncan,

Hjelmskog,

Papies

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Changing high-carbon lifestyles of individuals with high socioeconomic status (SES) is an important step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring social justice within climate mitigation. However, many high-carbon behaviours (such as frequent flying and car ownership) are also used to signal status within individuals’ social networks. Shifting consumption levels within high status individuals therefore may present a challenge, especially when individuals believe that engaging in high-carbon lifestyles is both normal and necessary. Here, we report the findings of a pre-registered online mixed-methods study in the UK (N = 511) that examined the associations of descriptive norms (i.e., perceptions of how often others engage in these behaviours) about high-carbon behaviours with policy support and with the likelihood to voluntarily reduce these behaviours for climate change mitigation. Contrary to our hypotheses, we found no meaningful association of descriptive norms with increased policy support, nor with decreased likelihood of voluntarily shifting behaviour. Participants showed high reluctance toward changing high-carbon behaviours through voluntary or policy action, but showed a slight preference for voluntary action that ran contrary to our initial predictions. This was mirrored within thematic analysis of our open-ended questions that revealed two main themes: (1) The desire for personal choice, which includes the option of not changing one’s behaviour, and (2) High-carbon lifestyles increase happiness. There was little awareness of the need to reduce personal greenhouse gas emissions to secure a liveable future. Overall, our findings show that individuals with high SES are unlikely to reduce lifestyle-related emissions, or support policy to this effect, when it requires them to make direct changes to high-carbon behaviours. To change high-carbon lifestyles of individuals with high SES, citizens should be supported in envisioning and creating pathways for sufficiency-focused lower-carbon lifestyles that can be desirable and fulfilling.

show abstract

Section: Theoretical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A low-carbon future? Individuals with high socioeconomic status in the UK show little willingness to change high-carbon lifestyles for climate change mitigation

Duncan,

Hjelmskog,

Papies

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Buzzword or breakthrough beyond growth? The mainstreaming of the Wellbeing Economy

Hayden

2025

Ecological Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The power to transform structures: power complexes and the challenges for realising a wellbeing economy

Bärnthaler,

Novy,

Arzberger

et al. 2024

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article draws on different strands of existing scholarship to provide an analytical framework for understanding the barriers to achieving a well-being economy. It explores the interplay between agential and structural power, where some actor-coalitions can reproduce or transform pre-existing structures. Conversely, these structures are strategically selective, favouring some actors, interests, and strategies over others. Making sense of this interplay between agential and structural power, the article introduces the notion of power complexes—time-space-specific actor-coalitions with common industry-related interests and the power to reproduce or transform structures in a given conjuncture. To understand the historical “becoming” of today’s political-economic terrain, the article provides a regulationist-inspired history of the rise, fall, and re-emergence of four power complexes: the financial, fossil, livestock-agribusiness, and digital. They pose significant threats to pillars of a wellbeing economy such as ecological sustainability, equ(al)ity, and democracy. Subsequently, today’s structural context is scrutinised in more detail to understand why certain actors dominate strategic calculations in contemporary power complexes. This reveals strategic selectivities that favour multi- and transnational corporate actors over civil society, labour movements, and public bureaucracies. The article then examines firm-to-state lobbying as a strategy employed by corporate actors within today’s structural context to assert their interests. It presents illustrative cases of Blackstone, BP, Bayer, and Alphabet. Finally, it explores implications and challenges for realising a wellbeing economy based on post-/degrowth visions. It emphasises the double challenge faced by such a wellbeing-economy actor-coalition. On one hand, it has to navigate within contemporary modes of regulation that favour corporate strategies of capital accumulation while, on the other, it must confront the self-expanding and extractive logic of capital. In this context, three key challenges are outlined: the need to form unconventional strategic alliances, operate on various spatial dimensions simultaneously, and institutionalise alternatives to firm-to-state lobbying to influence policymaking.

show abstract

How to measure progress towards a wellbeing economy: distinguishing genuine advances from 'window dressing'

Cited by 8 publications

References 10 publications

A low-carbon future? Individuals with high socioeconomic status in the UK show little willingness to change high-carbon lifestyles for climate change mitigation

A low-carbon future? Individuals with high socioeconomic status in the UK show little willingness to change high-carbon lifestyles for climate change mitigation

Buzzword or breakthrough beyond growth? The mainstreaming of the Wellbeing Economy

The power to transform structures: power complexes and the challenges for realising a wellbeing economy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About