Abstract
Profound societal transformations are needed to move society from unsustainability to greater sustainability under continually changing social and environmental conditions. A key challenge is to understand the influences on and the dynamics of collective behavior change toward sustainability. In this paper we describe our approach to (1) understanding how affective narrative expressions influence transitions to more sustainable collective behaviors and (2) how that understanding, as well as the potential for using narrative expressions in modeling of social movements, can become a basis for improving community responses to change in a rapidly changing world. Our focus is on narratives that express visions of desirable futures and narratives that reflect individual and social identities, on the cultures and contexts in which they are embedded, exchanged, and modified, and through which they influence the dynamics of social movements toward sustainability. Using an analytical categorization of narrative expressions of case studies in the Caribbean, Micronesia, and Africa, we describe insights derived from the narratives of vision and social identities in diverse communities. Finally, we suggest that narrative expressions may provide a basis for agent-based modeling to expand thinking about potential development pathways of social movements for sustainable futures.
Highlights
Ensuring the well-being of societies from the present into the future over many generations requires that humanity finds, chooses, and moves on pathways toward sustainable futures in ways that are both globally coherent and locally appropriate to culture and context
Through the knowledge; learning; and societal change alliance (KLASICA) research alliance, we are collecting, characterizing, and employing narrative expressions of vision and identity to understand influences on and hindrances to collective behavior change toward sustainable futures
The motivations of individuals and groups for acting in support of, or opposition to, the expressions of vision are strongly influenced and may be inferred from narrative expressions of identity, culture, and contexts. These insights from narrative expressions of vision and identity can provide a basis for building models of social dynamics in communities moving toward sustainability
Summary
Ensuring the well-being of societies from the present into the future over many generations requires that humanity finds, chooses, and moves on pathways toward sustainable futures in ways that are both globally coherent and locally appropriate to culture and context. The rapid and accelerating rate of change of socioeconomic and Earth system trends [4] points to the urgency with which society must respond if the patterns of change are to be altered and moderated to move to more sustainable pathways. These calls, along with the accumulated evidence supporting them, highlight the critical and urgent need for profound societal transformations to move society from its current patterns of unsustainability to emerging patterns of greater sustainability in the midst of continually changing social and environmental conditions. The approach described here is intended to (1) better understand how characteristics of affective narrative expressions influence transitions to more sustainable collective behaviors and (2) consider how that understanding, as well as the potential for using affective narrative expressions in modeling of social movements, can become a basis for improving community responses to rapid and profound change at multiple spatial scales
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