Individualization
Plant a Tree, Buy a Bike, Save the World
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5820439 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Maniates (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2001 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 31-52 |
| Publication date | 2001-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Global Environmental Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1526-3800 • E-ISSN: 1536-0091 |
| Publisher | The MIT Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1162/152638001316881395 |
| OpenAlex | W2163013510 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 281 |
| References cited | 10 |
An increasingly dominant, largely American response to the contemporary environmental crisis understands environmental degradation as the product of individual shortcomings and finds solutions in enlightened, uncoordinated consumer choice. Several forces promote this process of individualization, including the historical baggage of mainstream environmentalism, the core tenets of liberalism, the dynamic ability of capitalism to commodify dissent, and the relatively recent rise of global environmental threats to human prosperity. The result is to narrow our collective ability to imagine and pursue a variety of productive responses to the environmental problems before us. When responsibility for environmental problems is individualized, there is little room to ponder institutions, the nature and exercise of political power, or ways of collectively changing the distribution of power and influence in society. Confronting consumption requires individuals to understand themselves not primarily as consumers but rather as citizens in a participatory democracy, working together to change broader policy and larger social institutions. It also requires linking explorations of consumption to politically charged issues that challenge the political imagination
Commodification · Consumption · Dissent · Environmentalism · Mainstream · Prosperity · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics
Toward a Political Ecology of Mind
Moralizing reproduction in a warming world
Knocking on doors
Beyond shallow time
Toward a fusion of two lines of thought
From consumer to producer
Homo ecologicus
Convincing people to go green
Shopping for Sustainability
When consumers make environmentally unfriendly choices
Ecological citizenship
Potential for a radical policy-shift? The acceptability of strong sustainable consumption governance among elites
Lost in Mainstreaming? Agrifood and Urban Mobility Grassroots Innovations with Multiple Pathways and Outcomes
Ethical Consumption, Consumer Self-Governance, and the Later Foucault
Green Urban Worlds
The undemocratic face of greenwashing and the duty to counter-frame
The Spirit of Democracy
Political consumerism and food activism
Politics and the Environment
Transitioning to low carbon communities—from behaviour change to systemic change
Community action for sustainable housing
Citizen or consumer? Reconsidering energy citizenship
Should We Trust in Values? Explaining Public Support for Pro-Environmental Taxes
Beyond the roots of human inaction
Connection with nature is an oxymoron
Support for Ethical Consumerism and Welfare States in the Global Economy
Complementary currencies
Who’s responsible? A media framing analysis of climate change and meat reduction in Aotearoa New Zealand
‘Ecological determinants’ of health in the global south
The republican sustainable state as a framework for democratizing sustainable consumption governance
‘Taking the green pill’
Assessing the ideational potential of young consumers for food system relocation
The representation of public opinion in reporting poll results on environment issues
On the social embeddedness of aeromobility
Topic modelling of public Twitter discourses, part bot, part active human user, on climate change and global warming
“No research on a dead planet”
Mapping the Concept of Sustainable Consumption
The flipside of hope discourse
Playing the blame game
Missing voices in the nuclear renaissance
Flying Less for Work and Leisure? Co-Designing a City-Wide Change Initiative in Geneva
Tipping dynamics of consumer lifestyle change
Against the climate clock
Adaptation or transformation? A system‐justification perspective on pro‐environmental beliefs and behaviors
“Two quid, chicken and chips, done”
Exploring intersectional approaches to waste through grassroots innovations in the U.K
(Don’t) be ashamed during take-off and landing
Economic inequality is linked to citizens viewing individuals as more responsible for climate change mitigation than governments
Research and development (R&D) circles as collaborative spaces for shared epistemic agency in teacher education
Exploring Galápagos children’s place attachment, local ecological knowledge, and pro-environmental behaviour
“Do Something Simple for the Climate”
Sorry to Bother You
Privileged Socionatures and Naturalization of Privilege
Ecological citizens and consumers
Not Going Back to Normal
Perceived Inequality Increases Support for Structural Solutions to Climate Change
Blogging for Sustainability
Animal Agriculture and Climate Change in the US and UK Elite Media
Beyond Individualized Responsibility Attributions? How Eco Influencers Communicate Sustainability on TikTok
To Delight and Misinstruct
The Ecological Jeremiad, the American Myth, and the Vivid Force of Color in Dr. Seuss's The Lorax
Journalistic Norms, Cultural Values, and Coverage of Climate Change in the Philippines
Blame and Responsibility Assignments in Fast Fashion-Triggered Environmental Injustice
Misframing Marine Plastic Pollution on TikTok
Roadblocks and resistance
Institutional quality shapes who citizens hold responsible for climate change mitigation
A Trip to the Co-op
Responsibility, rationality, and acceptance
Popular Witchcraft and Environmentalism
Does Changing a Light Bulb Lead to Changing the World? Political Action and the Conscious Consumer
Discourses of climate delay
Materials sovereignty
Missing the outbreak for the germs
Dialogic ecologies
Quantifying GHG emissions enabled by capital and labor
Qui émet du CO 2 ? Panorama critique des inégalités écologiques en France
The Micro-Ethics of Everyday Life
Communities, Supermarkets, and Local Food
Can Consumer Demand Deliver Sustainable Food? Recent Research in Sustainable Consumption Policy and Practice
Individualized responsibility
Organising the subjects of responsible consumption
Growing sustainable consumption communities
Taking back control
A Journey Through Earth Grief to the Solidarity Economy
Green citizenship
Three Scenario Narratives for a Resource-Efficient and Low-Carbon Europe in 2050
Academic and Political Responsibility in Confronting Climate Change
Is it sustainable consumption or performative environmentalism
Radically sustainable consumption and lifestyles
From responsibility ping-pong to shared responsibility for 1.5° lifestyles? Examining European stakeholder perspectives
Lifestyle for social change? Exploring framing and lifestyle politics in the Chinese zero waste movement
Between individualization and politicization
Is it good to feel bad about unsustainable behaviours? Reflexivity around environmental emotions
The Discursive Power of Recycling
Waste in Zero-Waste Households
Meta-analysis of pro-environmental behaviour spillover
Recycling bias and reduction neglect
Ethical consumption in three stages
A reflexive look at reflexivity in environmental sociology
The feminization of environmental responsibility
| Unique citing works | 281 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 11,71 |
| Citation span | 2002 - 2026 (25) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 265 |