Individualised or participatory? Exploring late-modern identity and sustainable development

Lucie Middlemiss

doi:10.1080/09644016.2014.943010

Abstract

The idea of individualisation is powerful: in late-modern society, people’s sense of identity is based on their individual experience rather than their relationships with others. This is problematic for sustainable development because it conflicts with the ideal of participation enshrined in its theory and practice. It is also unclear how the idea plays out in this field, with emerging evidence that some sustainable development policy and practice is individualising. The realities of individualisation are more complex. Empirical studies outside sustainable development have shown that individualising policy does not necessarily have individualising effects. Considering how the idea and realities of individualisation cast new light on subjectivities imagined in sustainable development theory and practice, I argue that sustainable development scholars and practitioners need to consider a range of late-modern subjectivities, and be critically aware of how individualisation is potentially reproduced in policy and practice.

Highlights

There is a considerable body of work in social theory, to date largely overlooked by sustainable development scholars, that deals with individualisation (Elias 1991, Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 2002, Campbell 2004, Bauman 2007)
I begin by outlining the idea of individualisation, as defined in social theory, and go on to discuss how this idea is problematic for sustainable development
As we have seen, social theorists have tended to present a rather simple narrative of individualisation, in which, over time, people become increasingly disconnected from others and focused on their own project of self

Summary

Lucie Middlemiss*

Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, UK. The idea of individualisation is powerful: in late-modern society, people’s sense of identity is based on their individual experience rather than their relationships with others. This is problematic for sustainable development because it conflicts with the ideal of participation enshrined in its theory and practice. It is unclear how the idea plays out in this field, with emerging evidence that some sustainable development policy and practice is individualising.

Introduction

The idea of individualisation

Individualisation and the policy and practice of sustainable development

The realities of individualisation

Understanding the implications for sustainable development

Conclusions