Suchergebnisse

Während freiwilliges Engagement nachweislich das Wohlbefinden der sich Engagierenden positiv beeinflusst und somit im Idealfall zu einem positiven Kreislauf (doing well by doing good) führen kann (OECD 2015), verhält es sich bei freiwilligem Engagement im Nachhaltigkeitsbereich komplizierter. So sind jene, die sich regelmäßig in Initiativen wie Energiekooperativen, Ökodörfern oder Repair-Cafés für die Nachhaltigkeit einsetzen, unter Umständen mit verschiedenen emotionalen Herausforderungen konfrontiert. Überfordernd kann einerseits die zeitliche Belastung wirken. Andererseits kann es überfordernd sein, wenn man angesichts der Größe der Probleme scheinbar nichts oder nur wenig beitragen kann. Herausfordernd ist es zudem, zeitliche und räumliche Distanzen zu überbrücken und sich erreichbare Ziele zu setzen. Ungeachtet dieser Herausforderungen kann Engagement für die Nachhaltigkeit auch in sich als wesentliche Sinn- und Motivationsquelle erkannt werden – samt der Vielzahl von positiven Auswirkungen auf das eigene hedonistische wie eudaimonische Wohlbefinden. Dieser Artikel zeigt solche möglichen Auswirkungen auf und diskutiert, wie man den oben genannten Herausforderungen begegnen kann. Er stützt sich dabei auf 39 Tiefeninterviews mit Menschen, die in unterschiedlichsten Nachhaltigkeitsinitiativen aktiv sind.

Auch wenn Umweltbewegungen »Weiter so ist keine Option! Wende oder Ende!« fordern und der Begriff der Nachhaltigkeit voll im Mainstream angekommen ist - die moderne Gesellschaft verteidigt ihren Wohlstand und Lebensstil entschiedener denn je. Beharrlich wird eine Politik der Nicht-Nachhaltigkeit betrieben, und die Konjunktur des Rechtspopulismus signalisiert zudem eine deutliche Abkehr vom ökologisch-demokratischen Projekt vergangener Jahrzehnte. Dieser Band stellt grundlegende Annahmen der Nachhaltigkeitsdebatte in Frage und skizziert neue sozialwissenschaftliche Forschungsperspektiven, um die eigenartige Fortdauer der Nicht-Nachhaltigkeit zu erhellen.

Auch wenn die Dringlichkeit einer sozial-ökologischen Transformation zur Nachhaltigkeit längst von praktisch allen Seiten anerkannt wird - moderne Gesellschaften verteidigen ihren Wohlstand und Lebensstil entschiedener denn je. Beharrlich wird eine sozial und ökologisch zerstörerische Politik der Nicht-Nachhaltigkeit betrieben. Die Konjunktur des Rechtspopulismus signalisiert, wie sehr das ökologisch-demokratische Projekt vergangener Jahrzehnte brüchig geworden ist. Und die Corona-Pandemie verschiebt die Prioritäten erneut in Richtung Wachstumspolitik und Konsumstimulation.

Sustainability transitions as processes of fundamental change in societal systems are open-ended, nonlinear and uncertain. Respective research and governance approaches, e.g. transition management, propose a reflexive way of governing, aiming for a number of social effects to help facilitating a transition. Effects include empowerment, social learning and social capital development. Jointly mentioned social effects shall allow for reflexivity and innovation in developing socially robust and contextualized solutions to sustainability challenges that work in practice. Still, understanding mentioned social effects and their interplay more in depth is needed to design and assess transition management processes. While such understanding and related assessment framework is under development in transition management literature, transdisciplinary sustainability research can provide a rich body of tools and experiences. Building on a review of respective literature, this article develops an evaluation framework focusing on social effects as important and hitherto under conceptualised aspects of sustainability transitions literature. This framework is used to empirically investigate the effects of two specific transition management processes at local scale. Doing so, the article provides a conceptual and empirical understanding of how social effects contribute to a transition towards sustainability. Results highlight the importance and possibilities of addressing sustainability as an inherent quality of social effects aimed for.

Community currencies and their contribution to a sustainable development have been quite widely discussed. In contrast, their potential to raise the personal quality of life of their members and users has been less noted. Combining these two strands, we argue that community currencies enhance an individual sustainable quality of life. We underpin this by analysing data of an online survey of members and users of community currencies in Austria and Germany. The theoretical foundation of our analysis is the Capability Approach and its notion of quality of life, saying that a high quality of life is characterized by high freedom of choice of valuable doings and beings. A sustainable high quality of life would then be characterized by a high freedom of choice within the limits given by planetary boundaries and further sustainability criteria. This perspective allows inferringthat community currencies do not just contribute to sustainable development via their often emphasized effects in the field of regionalization and local value added, but in a much more encompassing way.

Sustainability transitions as processes of fundamental change in societal systems are open-ended, nonlinear and uncertain. Respective research and governance approaches, e.g. transition management, propose a reflexive way of governing, aiming for a number of social effects to help facilitating a transition. Effects include empowerment, social learning and social capital development. Jointly mentioned social effects shall allow for reflexivity and innovation in developing socially robust and contextualized solutions to sustainability challenges that work in practice. Still, understanding mentioned social effects and their interplay more in depth is needed to design and assess transition management processes. While such understanding and related assessment framework is under development in transition management literature, transdisciplinary sustainability research can provide a rich body of tools and experiences. Building on a review of respective literature, this article develops an evaluation framework focusing on social effects as important and hitherto under conceptualised aspects of sustainability transitions literature. This framework is used to empirically investigate the effects of two specific transition management processes at local scale. Doing so, the article provides a conceptual and empirical understanding of how social effects contribute to a transition towards sustainability. Results highlight the importance and possibilities of addressing sustainability as an inherent quality of social effects aimed for.

Endbericht: Gemeinsamer Bericht zum BMBF-Forschungsprojekt (FKZ: 01UN1015A). - [Gesamtziel:] Im Projektantrag gab das Konsortium folgende Ziele an: 'Die auf Grundlage des Capability-Ansatzes entworfene Konzeption nachhaltiger Entwicklung hat durch die Bezugnahme auf die bedürfnisorientierten Ziele der Brundtland-Definition Integrationskraft und verbindet explizit intragenerationale mit intergenerationaler Gerechtigkeit. Diese Konzeption wird zu einem Indikatorenset nachhaltiger menschlicher Entwicklung operationalisiert, einer quantitativen Analyse unterzogen, empirisch in verschiedenen Governance-Feldern und -Ebenen angewendet und auf ihre verallgemeinerte Verwendbarkeit in Entscheidungsprozessen geprüft und dementsprechend modifiziert.' Während der Projektlaufzeit, auch motiviert durch das Gutachtervotum, wurden die wissenschafts-bezogenen Ziele gestärkt und die politikbezogenen Ziele abgeschwächt.

Several strands of literature have developed around the ambition to influence or bring about transitions toward greater sustainability. In this context researchers have come to be interested in the types of actors involved in sustainability transitions and the roles these actors play. However, there is a lack of clear definitions of actors, and their roles. Our research takes an exploratory approach and is designed to describe and analyse the actors concerned and to identify their roles in sustainability initiatives. Our aim in doing so is to contribute to the body of scientific knowledge on transitions and to provide sustainability initiatives themselves with helpful information. Data were collected using the Net-Map tool, a well-established method in actor and stakeholder analysis. In our results we identify and define six actor roles: catalysts, opponents, intermediaries, frontrunners, drivers and visionaries. In the literature, particular roles are connected to common actor categories (civil society, governmental actors, private sector, etc.). Our results imply that sustainability initiatives are neither necessarily hindered by the absence of certain actors, nor are they hindered per se by the presence of an actor - rather, a broad mix seems to be helpful.

Im Projektantrag gab das Konsortium folgende Ziele an: "Die auf Grundlage des Capability-Ansatzes entworfene Konzeption nachhaltiger Entwicklung hat durch die Bezugnahme auf die bedürfnisorientierten Ziele der Brundtland-Definition Integrationskraft und verbindet explizit intragenerationale mit intergenerationaler Gerechtigkeit. Diese Konzeption wird zu einem Indikatorenset nachhaltiger menschlicher Entwicklung operationalisiert, einer quantitativen Analyse unterzogen, empirisch in verschiedenen Governance-Feldern und -Ebenen angewendet und auf ihre verallgemeinerte Verwendbarkeit in Entscheidungsprozessen geprüft und dementsprechend modifiziert." Während der Projektlaufzeit, auch motiviert durch das Gutachtervotum, wurden die wissenschaftsbezogenen Ziele gestärkt und die politikbezogenen Ziele abgeschwächt.

Several strands of literature have developed around the ambition to influence or bring about transitions toward greater sustainability. In this context researchers have come to be interested in the types of actors involved in sustainability transitions and the roles these actors play. However, there is a lack of clear definitions of actors, and their roles. Our research takes an exploratory approach and is designed to describe and analyse the actors concerned and to identify their roles in sustainability initiatives. Our aim in doing so is to contribute to the body of scientific knowledge on transitions and to provide sustainability initiatives themselves with helpful information. Data were collected using the Net-Map tool, a well-established method in actor and stakeholder analysis. In our results we identify and define six actor roles: catalysts, opponents, intermediaries, frontrunners, drivers and visionaries. In the literature, particular roles are connected to common actor categories (civil society, governmental actors, private sector, etc.). Our results imply that sustainability initiatives are neither necessarily hindered by the absence of certain actors, nor are they hindered per se by the presence of an actor - rather, a broad mix seems to be helpful.

Several strands of literature have developed around the ambition to influence or bring about transitions toward greater sustainability. In this context researchers have come to be interested in the types of actors involved in sustainability transitions and the roles these actors play. However, there is a lack of clear definitions of actors, and their roles. Our research takes an exploratory approach and is designed to describe and analyse the actors concerned and to identify their roles in sustainability initiatives. Our aim in doing so is to contribute to the body of scientific knowledge on transitions and to provide sustainability initiatives themselves with helpful information. Data were collected using the Net-Map tool, a well-established method in actor and stakeholder analysis. In our results we identify and define six actor roles: catalysts, opponents, intermediaries, frontrunners, drivers and visionaries. In the literature, particular roles are connected to common actor categories (civil society, governmental actors, private sector, etc.). Our results imply that sustainability initiatives are neither necessarily hindered by the absence of certain actors, nor are they hindered per se by the presence of an actor - rather, a broad mix seems to be helpful.