Preannouncement of new SCORAI book on Social Change Beyond Consumerism

 

Title of the new book: Social Change and the Coming of Post-consumer Society: Theoretical Advances and Policy Implications

Authors: Halina Szejnwald Brown, Clark University, USA, Maurie Cohen, New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA, Philip Vergragt, Clark University, USA

Introduction:

Social Change and the Coming of Post-Consumer Society aims to develop more complete appreciation of the relevant processes of social change and to identify effective interventions that could enable a transition to supersede consumer society. Bringing together leading interdisciplinary experts on social change, the book identifies and analyzes several ongoing small- and modest-scale social experiments. Possibilities for macro-scale change from the interlinked perspectives of culture, economics, finance, and governance are then explored.

Table of contents:

  • I. Consumption and Social Change: An Introductory Discussion and Synthetic Framework
    • Introduction, Halina Szejnwald Brown
  • II. Niches of Social Innovation
    • The New Sharing Economy: Enacting the Ecohabitus
    • Toward a More Solidaristic Sharing Economy: Examples from Switzerland
    • Social Change at the Nexus of Consumption and Politics: A Case Study of Local Food Movements
    • Institutionalization Processes in Transformative Social Innovation: Capture Dynamics in the Social Solidarity Economy and Basic Income Initiatives
    • Consumption and Social Change: Sustainable Lifestyles in Times of Economic Crisis
  • III. Post-consumerist Transitions
    • Learning from History: When “Gestures of Change” Demand Policy Support
    • Finance: An Emerging Issue in Sustainable Consumption Research
    • Beyond “GDP” Indicators: Changing the Economic Narrative for a Post-consumerist Society?
    • Consumption, Governance, and Transitions: How Reconnecting Consumption and Production Opens Up New Perspectives for Sustainable Development
  • IV. Social Change Toward Post-consumer Society
    • Conclusion and Outlook

Flyer: Download here.