New normalities in grassroots innovations: The reconfiguration and normalization of social practices in an ecovillage

Abstract

Abstract We use concepts from social practice theories to better understand how grassroots innovators reconfigure their daily practices and create ‘niches of new normalities’. Through a qualitative study of a specific grassroots organization – an ecovillage in Brazil – we explore the local dynamics of development and normalization of innovative social practices. We describe the role of meanings, materials and competences in the reconfiguration of practices, and explain how the normalization of sustainable social practices in the ecovillage creates new social norms that encourage members to adopt them and, in turn, engender new circuits of reproduction. We argue for the importance of social norms as a ‘structural’ element influencing the emergence, maintenance, and development of social practices.