Full name of the research project: Sustainable Consumption Patterns, Behavioural Strategies and Knowledge Use in Hungarian Society. Social scientific analysis of sustainable food and energy consumption (NKFIH K138020)
Research period: 1 October 2021 – 30 September 2024
Project leader: Bernadett Csurgó
Other researchers: Judit Acsády, Adrienne Csizmady, Zoltán Ferencz, Gergely Horzsa, Gábor Kecskés (JTI), Szabina Kerényi, Imre Kovách, Lea Kőszeghy, Luca Kristóf, Boldizsár Megyesi, Zsolt Szabolcsi, Dániel Oross (PTI)
Social issues related to climate change, such as sustainable consumption and environmentally conscious behaviour, have become increasingly prominent in both public and academic discourses in recent years. While there seems to be a shift towards sustainable consumption in political strategies, social movements and consumer behaviour, several studies point to the links between poverty and environmental degradation and the effects of modernisation on overconsumption. Our research seeks to capture social inequalities by analysing everyday practices, knowledge use and discourses of sustainable consumption.
The main objective of the research is to explore the social characteristics of sustainable consumption using qualitative and quantitative methods. Patterns and strategies of sustainable consumption are interpreted along the lines of social status and inequalities. The research will analyse how different socio-economic factors such as attitudes, norms, knowledge and behaviours influence specific forms of sustainable consumption. By analysing the social components of sustainable consumption, we also seek to explore how different social processes and systems, such as public policies, legal structures, social movements, organisational networks, culture and media products influence sustainable consumption. Different consumption habits and practices (from selective waste collection to kinematic activities) will be discussed through the interrelationship between social situations and sustainability.