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- Alvinzi, André, 1984-
(författare)
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Working for a Wage - What´s the Point? Lived Experiences of Meaningfulness and Meaninglessness in Professional and Manual Occupations
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores experiences of meaningfulness and meaninglessness in wage labor, and how these work experiences relate to social and organizational factors in work situations (situational meaning). It also explores the centrality and value of wage labor in life in a broader sense (existential meaning). In the research field ‘meaning of work’, previous research is primarily leadership-oriented, psychological and quantitative. Sociological studies have remained scarce, and the concept of meaning tends to be used in confused ways. An explicit philosophically informed sociological perspective of lived experience, action and meaning is lacking. The thesis argues that this can be initiated through theorizing and interviews with a social phenomenological focus. Theoretically and empirically, the thesis contributes with a sociological perspective that integrates social phenomenological and structure-oriented perspectives. Based on 20 interviews with presently employed and recently retired individuals from professional and more manually oriented occupations, the findings suggest that (a) the wage is fundamental for employees’ initial conceptions and experiences of the purposive meanings of working. (b) People are not really themselves at work. Such inauthenticity has consequences for work experiences of meaning. (c) Employees perceive that managers do not understand their work situations and what is realistic to achieve in them. This can become a source of meaninglessness at work. (d) Some experience working life as a whole meaningful for its broader life structuring temporal and practical functions in terms of socializing, routines and habits in everyday life. (e) Working life biographies matter. Previous work experiences from past and current occupations are central for understanding employees’ expectations of- and ways of framing their experiences of meaning in the current job. (f) At work, non-work activities may be experienced as more meaningful than work tasks. (g) Habits and routines from work may generate an embodied form of work centrality. They may become internalized and embodied and spill over to life outside of work; (h) Employees across occupations value disconnecting from work, either at or in life outside work. This may be difficult to achieve because of (g).
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- Boström, Magnus, 1972-
(författare)
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A Missing Pillar? Challenges in theorizing and practicing social sustainability : introductory article in the special issue
- 2012
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : ProQuest. - 1548-7733. ; 8:1, s. 3-14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987, the notion of sustainable developmenthas come to guide the pursuit of environmental reform by both public and private organizations and to facilitate communication among actors from different societal spheres. It is customary to characterize sustainable development in a familiar typology comprising three pillars: environmental, economic, and social. The relationships among these dimensions are generally assumed to be compatible and mutually supportive. However, previous research has found that when policy makers endorse sustainable development, the social dimension garners less attention and is particularly difficult to realize and operationalize. Recent years though have seen notable efforts among standard setters, planners, and practitioners in various sectors to address the often neglected social aspects of sustainability. Likewise, during the past decade, there have been efforts to develop theoretical frameworks to define and study social sustainability and to empirically investigate it in relation to “sustainability projects,” “sustainability practice,” and “sustainability initiatives.” This introductory article presents the topic and explains some of the challenges of incorporating social sustainability into a broad framework of sustainable development. Also considered is the potential of the social sustainability concept for sustainability projects and planning. This analysis is predicated on the work represented in this special issue and on related initiatives that explicitly discuss the social pillar of sustainable development and its relationship to the other dimensions.
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- Boström, Magnus, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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A reflexive look at reflexivity in environmental sociology
- 2017
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Ingår i: Environmental Sociology. - : Routledge. - 2325-1042. ; 3:1, s. 6-16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Reflexivity is a central concept in environmental sociology, as in environmental social science in general. The concept is often connected to topics such as modernity, governance, expertise, and consumption. Reflexivity is presented as a means for taking constructive steps towards sustainability as it recognizes complexity, uncertainty, dilemmas, and ambivalence. Critical discussion of the conceptual meaning and usage of reflexivity is therefore needed. Is it a useful theoretical concept for understanding various sustainability issues? Is ‘more reflexivity’ relevant and useful advice that environmental sociologists can give in communicating with other disciplines, policymakers, and practitioners? This article explores the conceptual meaning of reflexivity and assesses its relevance for environmental sociology. In particular, it reviews its usages in three research fields; expertise, governance, and citizen-consumers. The paper furthermore discusses the spatial and temporal boundaries of reflexivity. It concludes by discussing how the concept can be a useful analytical concept in environmental sociology, at the same time as it warns against an exaggerated and unreflexive use of the concept.
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- Boström, Magnus, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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A sociology of environmental representation
- 2016
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Ingår i: Environmental Sociology. - Oxon, United Kingdom : Routledge. - 2325-1042. ; 2:4, s. 355-364
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The environment cannot plead its own case but must be represented. The aim of this paper is to elaborate on the concept of representation and demonstrate its relevance for environmental sociology. Drawing on Pitkin’s classic work on representation, we discuss representation as both ‘acting for’ and ‘standing for’. We also make a distinction between actors (representatives) and devices used as representations (e.g. descriptions, graphs and images), while discussing the intertwinement of these two aspects in representative practices. This paper stresses the performativity dimension and social embeddedness of representative practices. It sheds light on different meanings and implications of environmental representation, examining issues of claimmaking and what it means to represent the environment in various instances. Given the complex, durable and transboundary character of many topical environmental problems, the paper argues that it is essential to recognize and understand environmental representation in all its variety. It is moreover argued that a sociological elaboration of the concept of representation provides a basis for understanding the conditions for environmental politics, governance, management and
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- Boström, Magnus, 1972-
(författare)
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Between Monitoring and Trust : Commitment to Extended Upstream Responsibility
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Business Ethics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0167-4544 .- 1573-0697. ; 131:1, s. 239-255
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In line with the current trend toward sustainability and CSR, organizations are pressured to assume extended responsibility. However, taking such a responsibility requires serious and challenging efforts as it appears to involve a wider range of issues and increased need for close interaction between actors along commodity chains. Using a qualitative case study approach, the present article focuses on Swedish public and private procurement organizations with attention paid to textiles and chemical risks. It focuses on two crucial aspects of buyers’ relationships with suppliers in their efforts to advance environmental responsibility-taking—monitoring and trust—as well as how they intersect. The aim is to demonstrate, both theoretically and empirically, the limits and possibilities of monitoring and trust for developing extended upstream responsibility. The article demonstrates the problems with, on one hand, simple ritualistic monitoring and, on the other, simple trust, and explores potentially constructive pathways to extended upstream responsibility at the intersection of monitoring and trust. In connection with the findings, the article argues that theories on responsible and sustainable supply chain management must also take the enormous variety of organizations into account: not only large, private, transnational companies, which the literature has until now been preoccupied with.
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- Boström, Magnus, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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Can we rely on ‘climate friendly’ consumption?
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Consumer Culture. - : Sage Publications. - 1469-5405 .- 1741-2900. ; 19:3, s. 359-378
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In policy and research on sustainable consumption in general, and climate-oriented consumption specifically, key questions centre around whether people are motivated and prompted to support such consumption. A common claim in the scholarly debate is that policy makers, in face of fundamental governance challenges, refrain from taking responsibility and instead invest unrealistic hopes in that consumers will solve pressing environmental problems through consumer choice. Although green consumption is challenging, specifically climate-friendly consumption is even more so, due to the particularly encompassing, complex and abstract sets of problems and since climate impact concerns the totality of one’s consumption. Nevertheless, consumers are called to participate in the task to save the planet. This article draws on existing literature on climate-oriented consumption with the aim of contributing to a proper understanding of the relation between consumer action and climate mitigation. It provides a synthesis and presents key constraining mechanisms sorted under five themes: the value-action gap, individualisation of responsibility, knowledge gap, ethical fetishism and the rebound effect. This article concludes with a discussion of perspectives that endorse a socially embedded view of the citizen-consumer. The discussion indicates pathways for how to counteract the constraining mechanisms and open up room for climate-friendly citizen-consumers.
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- Boström, Magnus, 1972-
(författare)
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Cognitive Practices and Collective Identities within a Heterogeneous Social Movement : The Swedish Environmental Movement
- 2004
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Ingår i: Social Movement Studies. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1474-2837 .- 1474-2829. ; 3:1, s. 73-88
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent studies on social movements have highlighted the importance of cultural and ideational factors. Concepts such as collective identity, cognitive praxis, and framing have been used to better understand the emergence, development, and political and cultural impact of social movements. In this article I draw on different schools of thought in order to develop a new use of the concept of cognitive practice. I suggest the relevance of analysing collective identities and cognitive practices at the organizational level (which does not, per se, exclude analysis at other levels). This emphasis also leads to a perspective that suggest a relational and interaction-oriented way in which to understand how movement organizations try to influence other actors through their cognitive practices. This kind of analysis helps to question the implicit notion of unity in the concept of social movement. The analytical focal points are also useful for discussing possibilities and dilemmas for movement organizations with regard to aspects such as how frames become effective and make frame resonance possible; how compromises and delimitations are built into frames; and how cognitive autonomy may be decreased or preserved. The empirical focus in this article is the Swedish environmental movement, and the identities and cognitive practices of some its organizations in the 1990s. I also discuss the relevance of my findings for the study of movement organizations within other fields
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