| 1. |
- Bradley, Karin, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Community repair in the circular economy : Fixing more than stuff
- 2022
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Ingår i: Local Environment. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1354-9839 .- 1469-6711. ; , s. 1-17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the circular economy discourse it is stressed that products ought to be repairable and that repair work is assumed to be growing. However, repair can be organised and performed in different ways – by corporate entities, independent repairers, laypersons and communities. Some corporations are integrating repair and maintenance into their offering, while simultaneously restricting consumers to open, repair or modify their products. In opposition to such developments, there is a movement for “right to repair”, which works for consumers’ legal rights to repair and modify products, pushing for the free availability of spare parts and manuals. Recent years have also seen a growth of repair cafés and other forms of DIY community repair spaces. This paper explores the discourses of DIY community repair through two Swedish case studies – an NGO-led nationwide repair campaign and a local government initiative of open DIY repair spaces. Our case studies show how DIY community repair works towards enabling all, particularly marginalised groups, to participate and live well in a low-impact future. In contrast to the mainstream circular economy discourse, the purpose of community repair is not only about repairing broken stuff and reducing waste, but about building social relations and practicing non-consumerist forms of citizenship. By elucidating these different perspectives on repair – who is to perform it, with what skills and for what purposes – we highlight how the transition to future, more circular economies, can be enacted and steered in ways that allow for different roles and powers for citizen-consumers.
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| 2. |
- Callmer, Åsa, et al.
(författare)
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In search of sufficiency politics : the case of Sweden
- 2021
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1548-7733. ; 17:1, s. 194-208
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In transitions toward more sustainable and just societies, there is an urgent need to address overconsumption and to include a sufficiency perspective. This article contributes to previous research by exploring what a framework for a politics of sufficiency might entail and how such a framework can be used to analyze existing public policy. Our case analysis is the policy field of sustainable consumption and waste prevention in the context of Sweden. Based on interviews with public officials and civil society representatives, we identify key areas to address when aiming for a sufficiency orientation. Our results suggest that local and regional governments that strive for a commitment to sufficiency should formulate clear goals that serve to set environmental limits, for instance, in the form of carbon budgets, and then steer toward well-being for the inhabitants within these limits. Efforts should be made to secure stable funding for work within sustainable consumption and waste prevention, especially for projects with synergies in terms of reducing consumption and strengthening non-market relations. Using public procurement is another key tool. In the absence of an overall national politics of sufficiency, the above-mentioned strategies can be and already are to some degree, used by authorities in Sweden.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Lipke, Naomi, 1983-
(författare)
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Creating Food Commons : From Commodity to Common Pool Resource
- 2024
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Researchers, environmentalists, social justice activists and policy makers have long discussed the inherent environmental and social problems prevalent in food systems. This thesis explores ways in which foodsharing can be interpreted as a movement towards a future set of economic relationships that values environmental limits and the right of individuals to access food. Contributing to a growing body of literature, I argue that foodsharing demonstrates the ability for people to organize using alternative digital tools for collection and distribution of readily abundant resources without the need for significant government or business intervention, producing a type of commons relationship. The aim of the thesis is to explore what foodsharing, as a process of commoning, can teach us about alternative forms of economic and social exchanges. If alternative economic organizations are important for a just transition, social scientists need to go beyond arguments for their relevance to study their actual strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities to support them. Drawing on theories of commons, prefigurative politics and just transitions, this thesis looks at an alternative economy organization which succeeds despite working against the status quo, to show where the social system around it is not designed to support it and asks what it might need to reach further. This is explored through the qualitative case study of a well-established foodsharing organization in a medium size city on the West coast of Sweden. Research questions focused on the political ideas used by the organization, the ways in which it was organized, and the reasons for and resolution of conflict. Through interviews, observations, and online research the case is elaborated upon and analyzed to reveal the unique dynamics of the studied organization. These include very specific rules for collecting and distributing food that aim to maintain transparency, solidarity, and fairness. The foodsharing organization displays some characteristics of a food commons and in other instances characteristics of a gift economy. The main contribution is a closer look at the resulting interpersonal and organizational dynamics of one alternative economy organization in order to illuminate some challenges of organizing and maintaining similar ventures in the future. If alternative economic organizations have social benefit, then they will need to be supported in the ways in which are appropriate to their form and politics.
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| 5. |
- Mont, Oksana, et al.
(författare)
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A decade of the sharing economy : Concepts, users, business and governance perspectives
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 269
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sharing economy platforms have been transforming production and consumption systems in cities around the world. While the sharing economy may contribute to addressing sustainability issues, its actual economic, social and environmental impacts remain poorly understood. Advancing more sustainably promising forms of sharing and leveraging its benefits, while circumventing its pitfalls, is becoming increasingly important in the era of Covid-19 and climate crisis, economic downturn and uncertainty, and loss of social connectedness, particularly in anonymous urban environments. The ways to capitalise on strengths of the sharing economy are still poorly understood. In particular, the roles and perspectives of users, businesses and municipal governments in institutionalising the sharing economy in various geographical contexts are essential to examine. This volume seeks to advance the research field by focusing on four research areas: 1) understanding the sharing economy conceptually; 2) user perspectives on the sharing economy; 3) business perspective on the sharing economy; and 4) urban governance perspective on the sharing economy. The twenty articles in this volume discuss sustainability implications of the sharing economy from different perspectives, in various geographical contexts, and drawing on a range of disciplines. The volume makes a significant contribution by bringing in empirical findings from emerging and developing economies, including Brazil, China, Indonesia, Poland, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, thereby supplementing more frequently discussed perspectives from high-income countries. The volume also outlines the course for future research. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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| 6. |
- Persson, Ola
(författare)
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Scaling sufficiency : Towards less material consumption
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Various researchers have pointed out that avoiding further catastrophicconsequences related to the deteriorating ecological state of the planet,brought about by unsustainable production and consumption patterns,requires not only technological innovation and efficiency in productionprocesses, but also absolute reductions in energy and material use (i.e.,sufficiency). The rapid expansion of research on ideas such as sufficiency andpost-growth indicate an increasing realization that fundamental societalchange is needed if we are to avoid devastating environmental effects andsocial inequities.Using a theoretical perspective consisting of the literature on sustainableconsumption, sufficiency politics and policies, and scaling sustainabilityinitiatives, this thesis aims to contribute to our knowledge about socialecologicaltransformations from the perspective of sufficiency, specificallyaddressing (un)sustainable consumption. Sweden serves as the case with, onthe one hand, its strong civil society, policy and business promotion ofsustainable development and, on the other, high per-capita levels ofunsustainable consumption of resources.This thesis comprises four separate articles and a cover essay. Article oneexplores how environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) areframing different sufficiency activities—ranging from those that can beapplied within the current market arrangements to others that deal withsocial relations and non-commercial values beyond market exchange—as away to attract a wider audience. Article two analyses the individual motivesfor working less and the socio-ecological outcomes of Gothenburg City’s ‘rightto part-time’ policy. The third article contrasts the visions and discourses of‘community repair’ with the mainstream circular economy discourse byanalyzing the ENGO campaign ‘Fix the Stuff’ and the open Do-It-Yourselfrepair spaces ‘Fixotek’ in the City of Gothenburg. Article four explores howdifferent business forms impact upon the social and ecological sustainabilitydynamics of the changing Swedish second-hand clothing market.Sufficiency is an approach that remains peripheral in the public debates onhow to enable social and ecological sustainability. Nevertheless, the researchin this thesis provides concrete examples of how sufficiency practices can bescaled, not only through bottom-up and grassroots movements, but also viaiimore conventional actors, such as municipalities, established ENGOs andfirms (Papers I–IV). It therefore contributes to knowledge about howsufficiency can extend beyond an individual strategy towards low-impactlifestyles, and thus can involve various societal actors and amplificationprocesses, ranging across scaling out, scaling deep and scaling up. In addition,I illustrate how the scaling of sufficiency practices is also coupled withvarious challenges and tensions, which risk undermining some of the keyaspects of the sufficiency approach.Furthermore, through the lens of the sufficiency approach, this thesis alsoadvances the debate on sustainability transitions and circular economies(Papers III and IV). In particular, it draws attention to how the mainstreamcircular economy discourse has overlooked questions relating to the rolesand powers of citizen-consumers and corporations, as well as the control ofmaterials, skills and resources. Moreover, there are social-ecological issuesrelated to which market actors have access to used clothing, how thesematerials flow and how profits are eventually distributed that have yet toreceive much attention in the current circular economy debate. Together,these issues have important implications for who benefits from the transitionto a circular economy and in what ways.
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| 7. |
- Rasouli, Omid, et al.
(författare)
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Bereaved parents' quality of life : resilience and professional support
- 2023
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Ingår i: BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care. - : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 2045-435X .- 2045-4368. ; 13, s. e1029-e1037
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to compare the quality of life (QoL) among cancer-bereaved parents with a control group and explore how resilience and support from healthcare professionals associated with QoL of parents 2-8 years after the loss of a child to cancer.METHODS: This nationwide, cross-sectional survey was administered among parents (n=161) who lost their child to cancer between 2009 and 2014, compared with a matched control parent group (n=77). A study-specific questionnaire, Resilience Scale for Adults (six factors: 'Perception of self', 'Planned future', 'Social competence', 'Structured style', 'Family cohesion' and 'Social resources'), and a single-item measure of parents' QoL were included for the study.RESULTS: There was a lower QoL in both bereaved parents (mean=5.1) compared with the control parents (mean=5.8) (p<0.001). Two resilience factors, 'Perception of self' (OR=1.8, p=0.004) and 'Planned future' (OR=2.05, p<0.001), and given sufficient information during the child's last month (OR=2.63, p=0.003) were positively associated with long-term QoL in cancer-bereaved parents.CONCLUSION: The findings indicate lower QoL among both fathers and mothers 2-8 years after losing a child to cancer. The study also highlights the positive role of resilience and the importance of informational support on long-term QoL in cancer-bereaved parents. Bereavement support should be tailored for supporting individual needs.
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