Understanding low-carbon food consumption transformation through social practice theory The case of community supported agriculture in Norway
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Published
Apr 30, 2022
Karina Standal
Hege Westskog
Abstract
Drawing on a qualitative case study of consumers involved in community-supported agriculture farms in Norway, this article applies social practice theory to understand pro-environmental behaviour transformation in relation to community-supported agriculture. Situating social practice theory in the larger framework of the political economy of low-carbon transformation provides a holistic and grounded perspective on consumer behaviour change and potential for social transformation. In contrast to conventional individualistic and rationalist approaches, our study suggests that there is no linear path of transformation; rather, people join community-supported agriculture to use their consumer power to push for social transformation. Simultaneously, community-supported agriculture influences a reorientation of values and practices because it opens up opportunities and resources for sustainable lifestyles. We argue that the collaborative aspects of community-supported agriculture can challenge unsustainable consumption by emphasising sharing over private ownership and frugality over accumulation of growth. However, the consumer practices of the wider political economy produced by the ‘culture of capitalism’ continue to be ingrained in people’s social relations and contexts, and thus weaken new and more sustainable forms of food consumption.
How to Cite
Standal, K. and Westskog, H. (2022) “Understanding low-carbon food consumption transformation through social practice theory: The case of community supported agriculture in Norway”, The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food. Paris, France, 28(1), pp. 25–41. doi: 10.48416/ijsaf.v28i1.452.
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Keywords
collaborative consumption, community-supported agriculture, food habits, low-carbon transformation, pro-environmental behaviour change, social practice theory
References
Aasebø, K. et al. (2007) Farmer and Consumer Attitudes at Farmers Markets in Norway. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture Volume 30 Issue 4: 67–93.
Abson, D. J. et al. (2017) Leverage points for sustainability transformation. Ambio, 46(1), 30-39.
Almås, R. and Bye, V. (2020) Towards sustainable family farming and independent food co-operatives in Cuba? Possible lessons from Norway. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 26(1), 26-47.
Belk, R. (2014) You are what you can access: Sharing and collaborative consumption online. Journal of Business Research 67(8), 1595-1600.
Bjørkhaug, H., Almås, R. and Vik J. (2015) Norsk matmakt i endring, Fagbokforlaget, Bergen. Brown, C., & Miller, S. (2008). The impacts of local markets: a review of research on farmers markets and community supported agriculture (CSA). American journal of agricultural economics, 90(5), 1298-1302.
Bourdieu, P. (1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chen J., Gao Z., Chen X. and Zhang L. (2019) Factors Affecting the Dynamics of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Membership. Sustainability 11(15), 4170.
Cohen, J.N. et al. (2012) Community Supported Agriculture: A Commitment to a Healthier Diet. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition 7 (1), 20–37.
Coley, D., Howard, M. and Winter, M. (2009) Local food, food miles and carbon emissions: A comparison of farm shop and mass distribution approaches. Food Policy 34, (2), 150–155
Cox, R., Holloway, L., Venn, L., Dowler, L., Hein J.R., Kneafsey, M. and Tuomainen, H. (2008) Common ground? Motivations for participation in a community-supported agriculture scheme. Local Environment 13(3), 203–218.
Cox R., Kneafsey, M., Holloway, L., Dowler, E. and Venn, L. (2016) Greater than the sum of the parts? Unpacking ethics of care within a community supported agriculture scheme. In: Food Transgressions (pp. 61–82). Routledge.
Cone, C. and Myhre, A. (2000) Community-supported agriculture: A sustainable alternative to industrial agriculture? Human Organization 59(2), 187–197.
Dobernig, K. and Stagl, S. (2015) Growing a lifestyle movement? Exploring identity-work and lifestyle politics in urban food cultivation. International Journal of Consumer Studies 39 (5), 452‒45.
Ertz, M., Durif, F. and Arcand, M. (2016) Collaborative Consumption: Conceptual Snapshot at a Buzzword. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education 19(2), 1–23,
Feagan, R. (2007) The place of food: mapping out the ‘local’ in local food systems. Progress in Human Geography 31(1), 23–42.
Felson M and Spaeth JL ( 1978) Community structure and collaborative consumption: A routine activity approach. The American behavioral scientist (Beverly Hills) 21 (4), 614-624.
Feola, G. (2015) Societal transformation in response to global environmental change: a review of emerging concepts. Ambio, 44(5), 376-390.
Goodman, M., Maye D. and Holloway L. (2010) Ethical foodscapes?: Premises, promises
and possibilities. Environment and Planning A, 42, 1782–1796.
Grenfell, M. (2012) Change in the field—Changing the field: Bourdieu and the methodological practice of educational research. British Journal of Sociology of Education 25(4), 507–523.
Haenfler, R., Johnson B and Jones E (2012) Lifestyle Movements: Exploring the Intersection of Lifestyle and Social Movements. Social Movement Studies 11(1), 1‒20.
Hanson, K., Kolodinsky, J., Wan,g W., Morgan E.H., Pitts S.B.J., Ammerman A.S. and Seguin R.A. (2017) Adults and children in low-income households that participate in cost-offset community supported agriculture have high fruit and vegetable consumption. Nutrients 9(7), 726.
Head, B.W. (2019) Forty years of wicked problems literature: Forging closer links to policy studies. Policy and Society, 38(2), 180-197.
IPCC (2012) Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. [Field, C.B., V. Barros, T.F. Stocker, D. Qin, D.J. Dokken, K.L. Ebi, M.D. Mastrandrea, K.J. Mach, G.-K. Plattner, S.K. Allen, M. Tignor, and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. (pp. 582). Cambridge, UK, and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
Jenkins, R. (2000) Pierre Bourdieu. London: Routledge.
Kondoh, K. (2015) The alternative food movement in Japan: Challenges, limits, and resilience of the teikei system. Agriculture and Human Values 32(1), 143–153.
Lang, K.B. (2010) The changing face of community‐supported agriculture. Culture & Agriculture 32, (1), 17–26,
Leismann, K. et al. (2013) Collaborative consumption: Towards a resource-saving
consumption culture. Resources 2, 184-203
Mattioni, D., Loconto A.M., & Brunori, G. (2020) Healthy diets and the retail food environment: A sociological approach. Health & place, 61 (102244).
Meadows, D. (1999) Leverage points: Places to intervene in a system. Hartland: The Sustainability Institute. http://cp.art.cmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/8BD4EC4B-DAC3-4B3A-8177-7848F3687688.pdf
Maton, K. (2012) Habitus. In: Greenfell, M (ed). Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts. Durham: Routledge, 98–113.
Myrtz, M., Durif, F. and Arcand, M. (2019) A conceptual perspective on collaborative consumption. AMS Review 9, 27–41.
O’Brien, K. and Sygna, L. (2013) Responding to climate change: The three spheres of transformation. Proceedings of Transformation in a Changing Climate, 16, 23.
Ostrom, M.R. (2007) Community Supported Agriculture as an Agent of Change: Is It Working? In: Hinrichs CC and Lyson TA (eds) Remaking the North American Food System: Strategies for Sustainability. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, (pp. 99–120).
Paul, M. (2019) Community‐supported agriculture in the United States: Social, ecological, and economic benefits to farming. Journal of Agrarian Change 19(1), 162–180.
Pelling, M. (2011) Adaptation to Climate Change. From resilience to transformation London: Routledge.
Perez, J., Allen, P. and Brown, M. (2003) Community supported agriculture on the central coast: The CSA member experience. The Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems, University of California, Santa Cruz Research brief #1, winter 2003.
Pohl, C. (2011). What is progress in transdisciplinary research? Futures 43 (6), 618-626.
Pole, A. and Gray, M. (2013) Farming alone? What’s up with the “C” in community supported agriculture. Agriculture and Human Values 30(1), 85–100.
Robbins, R. (2004) Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Sharp J, Imerman E and Peters G (2002). Community supported agriculture (CSA): Building community among farmers and non-farmers. Journal of Extension 40(3), 1–6.
Schnell, S. M. (2007). Food with a farmer's face: community‐supported agriculture in the united states. Geographical Review 97(4), 550-564.
Schnell, S. M. (2013). Food miles, local eating, and community supported agriculture: putting local food in its place. Agriculture and Human Values, 30(4), 615-628.
Shove, E., Pantzar, M. and Watson, M. (2012) The Dynamics of Social Practice. Everyday Life and How it Changes. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Smith, A. (2007) Translating sustainabilities between green niches and socio-technical regimes. Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag, 19, 427–450.
Thompson, C.J. and Coskuner-Balli, G. (2007). Enchanting ethical consumerism: The case of community supported agriculture. Journal of Consumer Culture 7(3), 275–303.
Torjusen et al. (2008). Learning, communication and eating in local food-systems: The case of organic box schemes in Denmark and Norway. Local Environment. The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability Volume 13, 2008 Issue 3: 219–234.
Turner, B. (2011) Embodied connections: sustainability, food systems and community gardens. Local Environment 16(6), 509–522.
Van Kraalingen, I. (2019) Cultivating Embodied Connections in Biodynamic Agriculture.
A comparative study of local meaning-making at Earth Haven Farm in Canada and Nordgard Aukrust in Norway. Master thesis, Center for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo.
Vasquez, A., Sherwood, N.E., Larson, N. and Story, M. (2016) A novel dietary improvement strategy: Examining the potential impact of community-supported agriculture membership. Public Health Nutrition 19(14), 2618–2628.
Volz, P., Cressot, N., Parot, J. and Weckenbrock, P. (2016) Overview of Community Supported Agriculture in Europe. Urgenci:Aubagne, France, 2016; Available online: https://urgenci.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Overview-of-Community-Supported-Agriculture-in-Europe.pdf (accessed on 22 October 2019).
Wahlen, S. and Laamanen, M. (2017) Collaborative Consumption and Sharing Economies. In: Keller, M., Halkier, T., Wilska, T. and Truninger, M. (eds) Routledge Handbook of Consumption. Oxford: Routledge. pp. 94–105.
Warde, A. (2005). Consumption and theories of practice. Journal of Consumer Culture, 5(2), 131-153.
Warde, A. (2014). After taste: Culture, consumption and theories of practice. Journal of Consumer Culture, 14(3), 279-303.
Watkins, E.M. (2019) Consuming Community: An Ethnography of a Central Texas Community Supported Agriculture Program. Master thesis, Texas State University.
Watts, D., Little J. and Ilbery, B. (2018) “I am pleased to shop somewhere that is fighting supermarkets a little bit”. A cultural political economy of alternative food networks. Geoforum 91, 21–29.
Wells, B.L. and Gradwell, S. (2001) Gender and resource management: Community supported agriculture as caring-practice. Agriculture and Human Values 18, 107–119.
Westskog, H., Winther, T. and Aasen, M. (2018) The Creation of an Ecovillage: Handling Identities in a Norwegian Sustainable Valley. Sustainability 10 (6), 2074.
Wilhite, H.L. (2016) The Political Economy of Low Carbon Transformation: Breaking the Habits of Capitalism. Abingdon: Routledge.
Wilk, R. (2004). Morals and metaphors: The meaning of consumption. In: Eckstrom, K. and Brembeck, H. (eds) Elusive Consumption. Oxford: Berg Publishers, pp. 11–26.
Wilkins, J.L., Farrell, T.J. and Rangarajan, A. (2015) Linking vegetable preferences, health and local food systems through community-supported agriculture. Public Health Nutrition 18(13), 2392–2401.
Abson, D. J. et al. (2017) Leverage points for sustainability transformation. Ambio, 46(1), 30-39.
Almås, R. and Bye, V. (2020) Towards sustainable family farming and independent food co-operatives in Cuba? Possible lessons from Norway. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 26(1), 26-47.
Belk, R. (2014) You are what you can access: Sharing and collaborative consumption online. Journal of Business Research 67(8), 1595-1600.
Bjørkhaug, H., Almås, R. and Vik J. (2015) Norsk matmakt i endring, Fagbokforlaget, Bergen. Brown, C., & Miller, S. (2008). The impacts of local markets: a review of research on farmers markets and community supported agriculture (CSA). American journal of agricultural economics, 90(5), 1298-1302.
Bourdieu, P. (1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chen J., Gao Z., Chen X. and Zhang L. (2019) Factors Affecting the Dynamics of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Membership. Sustainability 11(15), 4170.
Cohen, J.N. et al. (2012) Community Supported Agriculture: A Commitment to a Healthier Diet. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition 7 (1), 20–37.
Coley, D., Howard, M. and Winter, M. (2009) Local food, food miles and carbon emissions: A comparison of farm shop and mass distribution approaches. Food Policy 34, (2), 150–155
Cox, R., Holloway, L., Venn, L., Dowler, L., Hein J.R., Kneafsey, M. and Tuomainen, H. (2008) Common ground? Motivations for participation in a community-supported agriculture scheme. Local Environment 13(3), 203–218.
Cox R., Kneafsey, M., Holloway, L., Dowler, E. and Venn, L. (2016) Greater than the sum of the parts? Unpacking ethics of care within a community supported agriculture scheme. In: Food Transgressions (pp. 61–82). Routledge.
Cone, C. and Myhre, A. (2000) Community-supported agriculture: A sustainable alternative to industrial agriculture? Human Organization 59(2), 187–197.
Dobernig, K. and Stagl, S. (2015) Growing a lifestyle movement? Exploring identity-work and lifestyle politics in urban food cultivation. International Journal of Consumer Studies 39 (5), 452‒45.
Ertz, M., Durif, F. and Arcand, M. (2016) Collaborative Consumption: Conceptual Snapshot at a Buzzword. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education 19(2), 1–23,
Feagan, R. (2007) The place of food: mapping out the ‘local’ in local food systems. Progress in Human Geography 31(1), 23–42.
Felson M and Spaeth JL ( 1978) Community structure and collaborative consumption: A routine activity approach. The American behavioral scientist (Beverly Hills) 21 (4), 614-624.
Feola, G. (2015) Societal transformation in response to global environmental change: a review of emerging concepts. Ambio, 44(5), 376-390.
Goodman, M., Maye D. and Holloway L. (2010) Ethical foodscapes?: Premises, promises
and possibilities. Environment and Planning A, 42, 1782–1796.
Grenfell, M. (2012) Change in the field—Changing the field: Bourdieu and the methodological practice of educational research. British Journal of Sociology of Education 25(4), 507–523.
Haenfler, R., Johnson B and Jones E (2012) Lifestyle Movements: Exploring the Intersection of Lifestyle and Social Movements. Social Movement Studies 11(1), 1‒20.
Hanson, K., Kolodinsky, J., Wan,g W., Morgan E.H., Pitts S.B.J., Ammerman A.S. and Seguin R.A. (2017) Adults and children in low-income households that participate in cost-offset community supported agriculture have high fruit and vegetable consumption. Nutrients 9(7), 726.
Head, B.W. (2019) Forty years of wicked problems literature: Forging closer links to policy studies. Policy and Society, 38(2), 180-197.
IPCC (2012) Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. [Field, C.B., V. Barros, T.F. Stocker, D. Qin, D.J. Dokken, K.L. Ebi, M.D. Mastrandrea, K.J. Mach, G.-K. Plattner, S.K. Allen, M. Tignor, and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. (pp. 582). Cambridge, UK, and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
Jenkins, R. (2000) Pierre Bourdieu. London: Routledge.
Kondoh, K. (2015) The alternative food movement in Japan: Challenges, limits, and resilience of the teikei system. Agriculture and Human Values 32(1), 143–153.
Lang, K.B. (2010) The changing face of community‐supported agriculture. Culture & Agriculture 32, (1), 17–26,
Leismann, K. et al. (2013) Collaborative consumption: Towards a resource-saving
consumption culture. Resources 2, 184-203
Mattioni, D., Loconto A.M., & Brunori, G. (2020) Healthy diets and the retail food environment: A sociological approach. Health & place, 61 (102244).
Meadows, D. (1999) Leverage points: Places to intervene in a system. Hartland: The Sustainability Institute. http://cp.art.cmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/8BD4EC4B-DAC3-4B3A-8177-7848F3687688.pdf
Maton, K. (2012) Habitus. In: Greenfell, M (ed). Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts. Durham: Routledge, 98–113.
Myrtz, M., Durif, F. and Arcand, M. (2019) A conceptual perspective on collaborative consumption. AMS Review 9, 27–41.
O’Brien, K. and Sygna, L. (2013) Responding to climate change: The three spheres of transformation. Proceedings of Transformation in a Changing Climate, 16, 23.
Ostrom, M.R. (2007) Community Supported Agriculture as an Agent of Change: Is It Working? In: Hinrichs CC and Lyson TA (eds) Remaking the North American Food System: Strategies for Sustainability. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, (pp. 99–120).
Paul, M. (2019) Community‐supported agriculture in the United States: Social, ecological, and economic benefits to farming. Journal of Agrarian Change 19(1), 162–180.
Pelling, M. (2011) Adaptation to Climate Change. From resilience to transformation London: Routledge.
Perez, J., Allen, P. and Brown, M. (2003) Community supported agriculture on the central coast: The CSA member experience. The Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems, University of California, Santa Cruz Research brief #1, winter 2003.
Pohl, C. (2011). What is progress in transdisciplinary research? Futures 43 (6), 618-626.
Pole, A. and Gray, M. (2013) Farming alone? What’s up with the “C” in community supported agriculture. Agriculture and Human Values 30(1), 85–100.
Robbins, R. (2004) Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Sharp J, Imerman E and Peters G (2002). Community supported agriculture (CSA): Building community among farmers and non-farmers. Journal of Extension 40(3), 1–6.
Schnell, S. M. (2007). Food with a farmer's face: community‐supported agriculture in the united states. Geographical Review 97(4), 550-564.
Schnell, S. M. (2013). Food miles, local eating, and community supported agriculture: putting local food in its place. Agriculture and Human Values, 30(4), 615-628.
Shove, E., Pantzar, M. and Watson, M. (2012) The Dynamics of Social Practice. Everyday Life and How it Changes. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Smith, A. (2007) Translating sustainabilities between green niches and socio-technical regimes. Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag, 19, 427–450.
Thompson, C.J. and Coskuner-Balli, G. (2007). Enchanting ethical consumerism: The case of community supported agriculture. Journal of Consumer Culture 7(3), 275–303.
Torjusen et al. (2008). Learning, communication and eating in local food-systems: The case of organic box schemes in Denmark and Norway. Local Environment. The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability Volume 13, 2008 Issue 3: 219–234.
Turner, B. (2011) Embodied connections: sustainability, food systems and community gardens. Local Environment 16(6), 509–522.
Van Kraalingen, I. (2019) Cultivating Embodied Connections in Biodynamic Agriculture.
A comparative study of local meaning-making at Earth Haven Farm in Canada and Nordgard Aukrust in Norway. Master thesis, Center for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo.
Vasquez, A., Sherwood, N.E., Larson, N. and Story, M. (2016) A novel dietary improvement strategy: Examining the potential impact of community-supported agriculture membership. Public Health Nutrition 19(14), 2618–2628.
Volz, P., Cressot, N., Parot, J. and Weckenbrock, P. (2016) Overview of Community Supported Agriculture in Europe. Urgenci:Aubagne, France, 2016; Available online: https://urgenci.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Overview-of-Community-Supported-Agriculture-in-Europe.pdf (accessed on 22 October 2019).
Wahlen, S. and Laamanen, M. (2017) Collaborative Consumption and Sharing Economies. In: Keller, M., Halkier, T., Wilska, T. and Truninger, M. (eds) Routledge Handbook of Consumption. Oxford: Routledge. pp. 94–105.
Warde, A. (2005). Consumption and theories of practice. Journal of Consumer Culture, 5(2), 131-153.
Warde, A. (2014). After taste: Culture, consumption and theories of practice. Journal of Consumer Culture, 14(3), 279-303.
Watkins, E.M. (2019) Consuming Community: An Ethnography of a Central Texas Community Supported Agriculture Program. Master thesis, Texas State University.
Watts, D., Little J. and Ilbery, B. (2018) “I am pleased to shop somewhere that is fighting supermarkets a little bit”. A cultural political economy of alternative food networks. Geoforum 91, 21–29.
Wells, B.L. and Gradwell, S. (2001) Gender and resource management: Community supported agriculture as caring-practice. Agriculture and Human Values 18, 107–119.
Westskog, H., Winther, T. and Aasen, M. (2018) The Creation of an Ecovillage: Handling Identities in a Norwegian Sustainable Valley. Sustainability 10 (6), 2074.
Wilhite, H.L. (2016) The Political Economy of Low Carbon Transformation: Breaking the Habits of Capitalism. Abingdon: Routledge.
Wilk, R. (2004). Morals and metaphors: The meaning of consumption. In: Eckstrom, K. and Brembeck, H. (eds) Elusive Consumption. Oxford: Berg Publishers, pp. 11–26.
Wilkins, J.L., Farrell, T.J. and Rangarajan, A. (2015) Linking vegetable preferences, health and local food systems through community-supported agriculture. Public Health Nutrition 18(13), 2392–2401.
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