Against the economic grain: moral exemplars build visibility and model the viability of low-carbon livelihoods

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dc.contributor.authorKendall, Kim
dc.contributor.supervisorRowe, James K.
dc.date.accessioned2019-05-01T18:42:23Z
dc.date.available2019-05-01T18:42:23Z
dc.date.copyright2019en_US
dc.date.issued2019-05-01
dc.degree.departmentSchool of Environmental Studiesen_US
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en_US
dc.description.abstractThe manner in which socioeconomic forces direct environmentally unsustainable behaviour is largely unseen and unappreciated. North American cultural beliefs, norms and values reinforce the economic system and constitute significant barriers to large-scale societal ecological behaviour change. Overlooked in the degrowth literature, even by researchers who have examined the importance of socioeconomic barriers (materialism and consumption), is the role occupation plays in dictating the ecological footprint and forming our socioeconomic identities. We have gained some understanding of the motivation of those individuals who have chosen to pursue a low-carbon lifestyle, but are lacking information about those who go one step further and adopt a low-carbon livelihood. Fifteen individuals who successfully adopted low-carbon livelihoods were interviewed to examine socioeconomic barriers they may have experienced and learn how those challenges were met. To assume a low-carbon livelihood at present is likely to require forming a new social status identity, adopting new metrics for judging oneself, and creating a new social network supportive of that identity and its values. A four-quadrant framework was used to examine the systemic nature of emergent themes regarding socioeconomic barriers and how those were overcome. Themes that emerged revealed many similarities to individuals committed to a low-carbon lifestyle with some critical differences in terms of both inhibiting and enabling factors. A core finding was that motivational and personality characteristics of the low-carbon livelihood individuals mimic the attributes of moral exemplars that drive a deep sense of ethical obligation to create a pro- social occupation that can function in a low-carbon manner. Clear values, coupled with a strong sense of personal responsibility, overpowered the socioeconomic barriers participants encountered. Implications regarding interventions for fostering the adoption of low-carbon livelihoods and fortifying the Degrowth movement are examined.en_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/10824
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectsocioeconomic barriersen_US
dc.subjectsocioeconomic statusen_US
dc.subjectsocioeconomic identityen_US
dc.subjectsocioeconomic forcesen_US
dc.subjectlow-carbon livelihooden_US
dc.subjectlow-carbon occupationen_US
dc.subjectsocial status identityen_US
dc.subjectsocial statusen_US
dc.subjectsocial identityen_US
dc.subjectfour-quadrant frameworken_US
dc.subjectmoral exemplarsen_US
dc.titleAgainst the economic grain: moral exemplars build visibility and model the viability of low-carbon livelihoodsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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