SCI announce exciting collaboration in Chinasci.cc.demo.faelix.net/sites/default/files/SCI News...
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SCI announce exciting collaboration in China Over the last six months, we have been delighted to welcome a host of new faces to the SCI: Sherilyn MacGregor joins us as Reader in Environmental Politics; Helen Holmes as a Hallsworth Fellow; and Cameron Roberts as Research Associate. We also welcome five new PhD students. You can read more about our new arrivals in the pages of this newsletter. The last period kicked off in conference season at the end of last summer. SCI researchers went en masse to three of the key conferences in our field: the International Sustainability Transitions conference in Brighton, the European Sociology Association conference in Turin, and the Royal Geographical Society conference in Exeter. Perhaps even more exciting was the signing of a formal collaboration between the SCI and the highly prestigious Chinese Academy of Social Science. The rise of a Chinese consumer society over the next decades will feature prominently in debates about sustainable societies, and our collaboration will facilitate the development of research projects and staff exchanges with our new partners. The collaboration agreement was launched at a conference in Beijing during September, in which a SCI delegation discussed with our new colleagues the latest advances in sustainable consumption research and policy. January 2016 marks the publication of the SCI-edited special issue of Discover Society, the online magazine published by The Policy Press. This issue contains a wide range of articles capturing the most recent thinking from across the SCI and also features an illuminating interview with Committee for Climate Change Chief Executive Matthew Bell. In November, the SCI also co-hosted ‘On the Home Front’ as part of the University of Manchester’s annual Policy Week. The event attracted a great crowd to discuss and debate how domestic energy consumption could be reduced. Alongside a raft of new publications in leading social science and environmental science journals, the recent period also saw publication of Alan Warde’s new monograph, The Practice of Eating and Mike Hodson’s co-edited volume, Retrofitting Cities. Finally, it would be amiss to close without a mention of the Paris COP21. The SCI contributed to the final major conference before the negotiations and has posted several blogs outlining reactions to the agreement. The Paris outcome was stronger on agreeing targets than on elaborating how they might be met – and that means there is now an even greater demand for better social-scientific understanding of how production and consumption systems will need to be reconfigured over the next few decades. We hope you enjoy reading about these and other SCI activities in this Newsletter. Contact: [email protected] Andrew McMeekin (SCI Research Director) SCI Newsletter Winter 2016 Sustainable Consumption Institute
Transcript of SCI announce exciting collaboration in Chinasci.cc.demo.faelix.net/sites/default/files/SCI News...
SCI announce excitingcollaboration in China Over the last six months, we have beendelighted to welcome a host of new facesto the SCI: Sherilyn MacGregor joins us asReader in Environmental Politics; HelenHolmes as a Hallsworth Fellow; andCameron Roberts as Research Associate.We also welcome five new PhD students.You can read more about our new arrivalsin the pages of this newsletter.
The last period kicked off in conferenceseason at the end of last summer. SCIresearchers went en masse to three of thekey conferences in our field: theInternational Sustainability Transitionsconference in Brighton, the EuropeanSociology Association conference in Turin,and the Royal Geographical Societyconference in Exeter.
Perhaps even more exciting was thesigning of a formal collaboration betweenthe SCI and the highly prestigious ChineseAcademy of Social Science. The rise of aChinese consumer society over the nextdecades will feature prominently indebates about sustainable societies, andour collaboration will facilitate thedevelopment of research projects and staffexchanges with our new partners. Thecollaboration agreement was launched ata conference in Beijing during September,in which a SCI delegation discussed withour new colleagues the latest advances insustainable consumption research andpolicy.
January 2016 marks the publication of theSCI-edited special issue of Discover Society,
the online magazine published by ThePolicy Press. This issue contains a widerange of articles capturing the most recentthinking from across the SCI and alsofeatures an illuminating interview withCommittee for Climate Change ChiefExecutive Matthew Bell. In November, theSCI also co-hosted ‘On the Home Front’ aspart of the University of Manchester’sannual Policy Week. The event attracted agreat crowd to discuss and debate howdomestic energy consumption could bereduced.
Alongside a raft of new publications inleading social science and environmentalscience journals, the recent period alsosaw publication of Alan Warde’s newmonograph, The Practice of Eating andMike Hodson’s co-edited volume,Retrofitting Cities.
Finally, it would be amiss to closewithout a mention of the Paris COP21.The SCI contributed to the final majorconference before the negotiations andhas posted several blogs outliningreactions to the agreement. The Parisoutcome was stronger on agreeingtargets than on elaborating how theymight be met – and that means there isnow an even greater demand for bettersocial-scientific understanding of howproduction and consumption systemswill need to be reconfigured over thenext few decades.
We hope you enjoy reading about theseand other SCI activities in thisNewsletter.
Contact:[email protected]
Andrew McMeekin (SCI Research Director)
SCI Newsletter Winter 2016
Sustainable Consumption Institute
SCI Collaboration with the ChineseAcademy of Social Sciences
The SCI’s Dr. Alison Browne, Prof. AlanWarde and myself travelled to Beijing inSeptember for a workshop, organised byDr. Zhu Di of the Institute of Sociology atthe Chinese Academy of Social Sciences(CASS) and Alison Browne. The workshopsaw the signing of a memorandum ofunderstanding between CASS and the SCIto explore possibilities for collaborationbetween the institutes. The workshop waspart of a research project lead by AlanWarde, funded by the British Academy andCASS, comparing Chinese and UK policiesfor sustainable consumption, which willsee Dr. Zhu Di visiting the SCI for threemonths in 2016, and a further workshopin Manchester. The two day workshop(Sept. 9-10) consisted of a day ofpresentations from the SCI delegation, andsociologists at CASS, as well as colleaguesfrom Guangdong and Hong Kong,followed by a day of roundtablediscussions on possibilities for researchcollaboration.
Since China introduced widespreadeconomic reforms in 1978 there have beenvast socio-economic changes that havedriven massive urbanisation, and since the1990s a consumer revolution. Levels ofrural-urban migration unprecedentedanywhere in history have seen well overhalf the Chinese population now living incities, and per capita CO2 emissionsapproaching the average level of E.U.countries. Total CO2 emissions in Chinaalready equal the combined emissions ofthe E.U. and the U.S. and the annualgrowth rate of emissions make China themajor driver of global CO2 emissions. Theexplosive growth in consumer societystandards of living in China mean thatsustainability issues in China are nowfundamentally linked to globalsustainability crises, including, beyondfossil fuels, issues of deforestation and
global food security. For China itself, urbanair pollution, soil degradation, waterscarcity and pollution and food securitypresent fundamental problems tocontinued growth, while urbanisation andthe consumer revolution pose criticalissues of inequality, especially in the rural-urban divide, macro-economic imbalances,housing, mobility and social cohesion. Therise of Chinese consumer society and thechallenges it poses for sustainableconsumption are discussed in an article byDr. Alison Browne, Dr. Zhu Di andcolleagues available in the current issue ofonline magazine Discover Society(discoversociety.org).
Alan Warde opened the workshop,presenting on behalf of SCI Director DaleSoutherton, on the challenge posed byconsumption to climate change and theSCI’s core research themes. CASS Instituteof Sociology Director Prof. Chen Guangjinwelcomed the goal of flexible and opencollaboration between CASS and the SCI,and reflected on the Chinese context, inwhich the State aims to rebalance theeconomy towards domestic consumption.Alan went on to give the keynote address,reflecting on the development of the study
of consumption in sociology and theanalytical achievements it has affordedthe study of sustainable consumption.Alan suggested that the key challenges ofthe research agenda for the sociology ofsustainable consumption concerned: thetheoretical relationship betweenconsumption and production; asociological account of collective action;issues of public, corporate and collectiveconsumption; and developing a mode ofcritique adequate to the challenges ofsustainable consumption.
Alison Browne discussed issues aroundconventions and practices of domesticwater use, and the practice theoreticalapproach to water consumption that shehas pioneered in recent years. With waterscarcity and pollution a major issue forChina, the importance of changing thetrajectory of development from theprofligate domestic consumption of waterthat has become the norm in advancedindustrial societies is critical. My owncontributions were, firstly, on behalf of Dr.David Evans, work developed from the‘Households, Retailers and Food WasteReduction’ project considering ‘theconsumer’ as a powerful and pervasiverhetorical and conceptual category, andsuggesting a critical approach to theresponsibilities commonly accorded theconsumer in discussions of sustainableconsumption. Secondly, I discussedsociological approaches to brands andbranding and then reflected on theirrelation to sustainable consumption.Brands may have an important role to playin the development of sustainableconsumption in China, especially in thecontext of the very different historicaldevelopment and political context of civilsociety, which has been central to theemergence of issues of sustainableconsumption in the West.
SCI Newsletter page 2 Winter 2016
Dr. Daniel Welch reports on an SCI delegation to Beijing for a workshop with the Institute of Sociology at the ChineseAcademy of Social Sciences
Total CO2emissions inChina alreadyequal thecombinedemissions of theE.U. and the U.S....
CASS Institute of Sociology Director Prof.Chen Guangjin presented on consumptionpatterns and trends in urban and ruralChina. Social stratification and inequalityare central issues for Chinese sociology.Although rural incomes have increasedsubstantially, rural-urban incomeinequalities have also increased, as Dr. TianFeng demonstrated from analysis of socialsurvey data. Rural incomes still onlysupport basic expenditure – andenhancing consumption for the poorestgroups is an important policy issue,requiring reform of the market, as well aswelfare provision.
Dr. Ho Wing Chung from City University ofHong Kong provided a perspective onconsumption and mobility amongst youngWestern migrants in Hong Kong, from aresearch collaboration with Goldsmiths inthe UK. Prof. Wang Jing (CASS) discussedthe housing market in urban China. 87% ofurban housing is privately owned (farhigher than the UK) – and there is muchconcern over the speculative nature of themarket, with vacancy rates running at 22%(compared to 9% in the EU). Prof. Shi
Changhui reported on a CASS-Norwegiancollaboration addressing conceptualframeworks for measuring sustainabledevelopment.
Prof. Wang Ning, of Sun Yat-SenUniversity, Guangdong, widelyacknowledged as the leading sociologistof consumption in China, discussed theproblem of the common paradigm ofconsumers sending market signalsregarding environmental and economicvalue in the Chinese context. For themajority of Chinese consumers,suggested Prof. Wang, ‘more is better’.
Lastly, our host Dr. Zhu Di presented onthe evolving policy mechanismsaddressing sustainable consumption inChina. The global sustainability impactsof the Chinese consumer revolution arevast, and the potential for sustainableconsumption policy to mitigate theseimpacts is therefore of huge globalsignificance.
Contact regarding SCI-CASS collaboration:Dr. Alison Browne [email protected]
SCI Newsletter page3 Winter 2016
Prof. Alan Warde, Dr. Alison Browne, and Dr. Daniel Welch from the SCI, with workshop organiser Dr. Zhu Di (second from right) andcolleagues at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing.
The globalsustainabilityimpacts of theChinese consumerrevolution are vast,and the potentialfor sustainableconsumption policyto mitigate theseimpacts is thereforeof huge globalsignificance.
On the Home Front:SCI and CIED at Manchester Policy WeekNovember 5th for the SCI and the Centreon Innovation and Energy Demand thisyear was about home fires not bonfires, asthe research centres contributed toManchester Policy Week with an eventfocused on challenges of reducinghousehold energy use. ‘On the HomeFront’ brought together leading thinkersfrom the world of social science, policyand practice, with fellow academics, localactivists and students, to discuss howhouseholds can dramatically reduce theirenergy consumption, the lessons of UKdomestic energy policies and how thesocial sciences can inform the debate.
The event kicked off with organiser Dr.Victoria Johnson (SCI and CIED)introducing a workshop of around 40delegates to the place of householdenergy demand reduction in the widercontext of climate change. The workshopthen split into groups to discuss a numberof ‘provocations’ around the issues,facilitated by SCI researchers, as a processto develop informed and insightfulquestions to be posed to a panel ofexperts later that evening.
Provocations included issues such as:“Financial incentives are the only way toreduce household energy consumption”;“Should the government no longer have tosubsidise solar photovoltaics through theFeed-in-Tariff”; and “Was the governmentright to abandon the Zero Carbon HomesStandard?”. My own group, tackling thelast of those provocations, was made up oftwo third year undergraduates embarkingon energy related dissertations, apostgraduate researcher working onsustainability in industrial systems, amember of Manchester’s Carbon Co-opwith personal experience of homeretrofitting and someone just about toembark on building a passive house forretirement.
Lively discussion ensued coveringeverything from the tension betweenbehavioural change and background smarttechnologies, the effect of abandoning the
Zero Carbon Standard on the mainstreamand sustainability specialist constructionindustry, the UK housing crisis, and themarginal higher costs of zero carbon newbuilds in the context of inflated landprices.
After feeding back group discussions tothe workshop as a whole we carried on theconversations at a networking reception,surrounded by the historic stained glasswindows of Manchester’s MechanicsInstitute.
Following the reception, ‘On the HomeFront’ moved onto ‘Energy Question Time’,a panel discussion ably chaired by theCarbon Co-op’s Jonathon Atkinson. The
panel consisted of the SCI Research FellowDr. Alison Browne, Richard Segar (SeniorPolicy and Projects Officer, ResPublica, andauthor of ‘After the Green Deal’ report),Councillor Kate Chappell of ManchesterCity Council (Executive Member for theEnvironment), architect Marianne Heaslipof Urbanism Environmental Design, Dr.Mari Martiskainen (Research Fellow at theCIED) and Ron Bailey, Head ofParliamentary Affairs, Sustainable EnergyAssociation.
A wide ranging and informed debatefollowed covering diverse topics, including:Manchester City Council’s plans toestablish a collective energy supply dealfor local residents; the future of the solarinstallation industry; how the SustainableCommunities Bill might be used toleverage local supply deals fromcommunity energy generation projects;the social equity of the Feed in Tariff; anddifficulties of engaging householders withenergy efficiency programmes.
Contact: [email protected]
SCI Newsletter page 4 Winter 2016
Publication:Doyle, T., McEachern, D. & MacGregor, S. (2015) Environment and Politics, 4thEdition, London: Routledge
The SCI’s Sherilyn MacGregor alongwith colleagues, Timothy Doyle andDoug McEachern recently publishedthe 4th Edition of Environment andPolitics which is a concise introductionto this ever-expandinginterdisciplinary field, explaining andillustrating how concepts, conflicts,movements, political systems and thepractices of policy-making can beanalysed in a systematic way. Thisbook provides a comprehensiveoverview of the key themes thatshape the field, and examines adiverse range of environmentalproblems and policy solutions foundin different countries and cultures.
SCI Newsletter page 5 Winter 2016
Congratulations to Prof Frank Geels of theSCI on his recent election to the AcademiaEuropaea.The Academia Europaea is a functioningEuropean Academy of Humanities, Letters
SCI Professor elected to theprestigious Academia Europaea
and Sciences, which elects members basedon outstanding scholarship. Membershipis by invitation only and is offered onlyafter peer group nomination, scrutiny andconfirmation as to the eminence of the
individual in their chosen field. Frank joinsthe ranks of other eminent scholarsincluding:
Archer, Margaret S.Boudon, RaymondCastells, ManuelElster, JonGiddens, AnthonyGoldthorpe, JohnHall, PeterMayntz, RenateNowotny, HelgaStreeck, WolfgangTouraine, Alain
The photograph above shows Frank (5thperson from left) at the ‘Our CommonFuture Conference’ held at the UNESCOHead Office in Paris last Summer, wherehe gave a keynote address entitled ‘Systeminnovations and socio-technicaltransitions’. Frank is also currentlyChairman of the Sustainability TransitionsResearch Network and you can find outmore about his work by visitingwww.sci.manchester.ac.uk/people/professor-frank-geels
Contact: [email protected]
Publication:Hodson, M. & Marvin, S. (eds.) (2015)Retrofitting Cities: Priorities,Governance and Experimentation,Routledge: Abingdon.
The SCI’s Mike Hodson together withSimon Marvin has developed an up-to-date critical framework for analysingurban retrofit, this is the first book toexamine urban re-engineering forsustainability in a socio-technicalcontext. Retrofitting Cities examineswhy retrofit is emerging as animportant strategic issue for urbanauthorities and untangles the mix ofeconomic, competitive, ecological andsocial drivers that influence anytransition towards a moresustainable urban environment.
SCI Newsletter page 6 Winter 2016
SCI Special Issue of Discover SocietyThe January 2016 edition of online magazineDiscover Society presents a special issue onSustainable Consumption, showcasing SCI research.The issue, edited by SCI Director Dale Southertonand researcher Dan Welch, features contributionsfrom a full 15 SCI researchers on diverse topics:from the neglected issue of gender in sustainableconsumption, to understanding the diffusion oflow carbon technological systems, to theprovocative promises of the kitchen-less home.
Contributions from further afield include aninterview with Matthew Bell, CEO of theCommittee on Climate Change, and reflections onsustainability communications from Steve Connorof pioneering agency Creative Concern, as well asacademic colleagues from Denmark, China,Estonia and Norway. Dale Southerton and DanWelch provide an overview of the new directionsin sustainable consumption and productionresearch offered by the SCI, and guest authorsaddress sustainable consumption in the contextsof China, and of India, and the role of media ineveryday consumption practices.
Discover Society 28 Special Issue on SustainableConsumption is available now atwww.discoversociety.org
Publication:Warde, A. (2016) The Practice of Eating,Cambridge: Polity.
This book reconstructs and extendssociological approaches to theunderstanding of food consumption. Itidentifies new ways to approach theexplanation of food choice and itdevelops new concepts which will helpreshape and reorient commonunderstandings. SCI Professor andleading sociologist of food, AlanWarde, deals both with abstract issuesabout theories of practice andsubstantive analyses of aspects ofeating, demonstrating how theoriesof practice can be elaborated andsystematically applied to the activityof eating.
SCI Seminar Series24 Feb 2016
Professor Sergio Schneider
Professor Sergio Schneider, Professor ofRural Development & Food Studies,Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul,Porto Alegre, Brazil, will be giving the SCISeminar on the 24 February 2016, furtherdetails to follow.
29 Jun 2016
Professor David C Gibbs
Professor David C Gibbs, Professor ofHuman Geography, University of Hull, willbe giving the SCI Seminar on the 29 June2016.
Details of these events can be found on ourwebsite: [email protected]
SCI Newsletter page 7 Winter 2016
Sherilyn MacGregor joined theSCI in October 2015 as Readerin Environmental Politics, afternine years as a Senior Lecturerat Keele UniversityOne of a small number of scholars in theUK specialising in the interdisciplinaryfield of gender and environmentalpolitics, Sherilyn’s research exploresthemes of environmental(un)sustainability, gender (in)equality,and theories and practices of citizenship.Her research is animated by criticalquestions about power relations,environmental and social justice, thegendered divisions of labour andresponsibility, and strategies for eco-social transformation in affluentsocieties.
Her research has been published in arange of journals including BritishPolitics, Sociological Review, Hypatia,
Local Environment, andEnergy Policy. Recent booksinclude EnvironmentalMovements around theWorld: Shades of Green inPolitics and Culture (co-edited with Timothy Doyle;2014) and the fourth editionof Environment and Politics(co-authored by TimothyDoyle and Doug McEachern;2015). She is currently editing theRoutledge International Handbook onGender and Environment (to bepublished in 2016) and has been jointeditor of Environmental Politics, the topjournal in her field, for the past fouryears.
In her new position in the SCI and Politicsdiscipline area in the School of SocialSciences, Sherilyn will further developher thinking in a theoretical monographon gender, power and environmentalpolitics (provisionally titled, The Green
Elephant) and pursue anumber of new researchprojects relating tosustainable consumptionand social justice. Forexample, in summer 2016she will work on acollaborative project withan architect/planner at theDelft University ofTechnology (funded by the
EU COST Action genderSTE) titled‘urban co-housing as a climatemitigation and adaptation strategy: acritical evaluation through a feministintersectional justice lens’. She also hasa keen interest in researching thedesign and delivery of ‘sustainabilityservices’ that can simultaneouslyaddress the needs for more and bettersocialized care and low-carbon/lowimpact living.
Contact:[email protected]
Helen Holmes is a newlyappointed HallsworthFellow at the SustainableConsumption Institute. Herproject: ‘Makers, make doand mend: a newly thriftyconsumer?’ is exploringthrift within contemporarysociety. It aims toinvestigate how thrift as aconcept is mobilised byhouseholds either as a necessity or aspart of a lifestyle choice.
Following the economic down turn inthe UK since 2008, interest in thrift andausterity has grown both within societyand academia. However, few studieshave actually considered whathouseholds are doing to be thrifty andhow their practices may have changedover time. This project will explore whatpractices people are undertaking to be
Newly appointed Hallsworth Fellow at the SCIthrifty and how these practicesintersect with time andobjects. This will involveexploring how thrift is enabledor constrained by time, be thattime of the household, in otherwords, having enough time,but also time of materials andobjects and how their lives areextended or altered as part ofbeing thrifty.
The project builds upon Helen’s previousresearch exploring the intersection ofpractice, time and materials through herPhD on hair and the craft of hairdressing,as well as studies into the conduits ofwaste disposal.
As a qualitative researcher withethnographic expertise, Helen is keen touse the project to explore different andinnovative methods. To this end, Helen
will be deploying a mixed methodsapproach, combining a quantitative timeuse diary alongside qualitativeapproaches including: participantobservation in several voluntaryorganisations; household interviewsinvolving innovative material culturemethods, such as cupboard audits; andalso issuing a Mass Observation Directiveon the subject of thrift. The project hasthe support of several organisationsincluding The Trussell Trust, Marks &Spencers, Incredible Edible andLancashire County Council.
Overall, the project aims to enhance anddevelop conceptualisations ofconsumption, particularly within widerpolitical and cultural debates onausterity, overconsumption,sustainability and waste.
Contact: [email protected]
Welcome to the SCI...
SCI Newsletter page 8 Winter 2016
SCI, The University of Manchester,188 Waterloo Place, Oxford Road,Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Joe Blakey
PhD title: The Ontological Politics ofCarbon Metrics
New ResearchAssociateCameron Roberts
Malte Rodl
PhD title: The evolution of ‘meatanalogues’: a comparative analysis of theinterconnectedness of changingconsumption and production practices
Steffen Hirth
PhD title: Relational geographies of food asareas of conflict between private affairsand political issues: spatial and sociallocalisations of responsibility in‘sustainable’ food discourses and practices
Ema Johnson
PhD title: Alternative models of foodprovisioning systems and their capacityto transition to a more sustainablefood system
Harald Wieser
PhD title: The Temporalities ofConsumption and Divestment
Welcome to the SCI...
Anna Weinhues
PhD title: Just Footprints: DistributingEcological Space across Species, Placeand Time
Cameron Roberts' background is in thehistory of technology, which heapplies to develop historical casestudies to investigate past transitions.
He just completed a PhD at theUniversity of Manchester, where hedeveloped an analytical model of thedevelopment of discursive storylinesduring socio-technical transitions. Thiswas tested using primary historicalresearch into opinion journalism,advertising, political speeches, andother forms of popular media coveringthe transition from a rail-dominatedtransport system to a road-dominatedtransport system in the UnitedKingdom and the United States.
Cameron's project at the SCI concernsthe subject of acceleratedtechnological diffusion. Cameron willbe using historical case studies oftechnologies which diffused morerapidly than normal; particularly if thiswas the result of an intentional effortby a government or other institution.These case studies will be used todevelop a model of how accelerateddiffusion can be successfullyencouraged.
Contact:[email protected]
