Policy Press

The Production of Everyday Life in Eco-Conscious Households

Compromise, Conflict, Complicity

By Kirstin Munro

Published

Mar 28, 2023

Page count

198 pages

ISBN

978-1529211474

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Mar 28, 2023

Page count

198 pages

ISBN

978-1529211498

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Mar 28, 2023

Page count

198 pages

ISBN

978-1529211498

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press
The Production of Everyday Life in Eco-Conscious Households

Based on qualitative interviews with sustainability-oriented parents of young children, this book describes what happens when people make interventions into mundane and easy-to-overlook aspects of everyday life to bring the way they get things done into alignment with their environmental values. Because the ability to make changes is constrained by their culture and capitalist society, there are negative consequences and trade-offs involved in these household-level sustainability practices.

The households described in this book shed light on the full extent of the trade-offs involved in promoting sustainability at the household level as a solution to environmental problems.

"Kirstin Munro’s innovative study of eco-conscious families provides a fine-grained analysis of household production and makes a landmark contribution to Marxist-feminist theories of capitalist social reproduction." Lise Vogel, Rider University

"Munro’s fascinating book highlights how individuals concerned with overconsumption, waste, and environmental degradation make decisions about their everyday lives. Students will find much to recognize in how these global concerns get integrated into the daily choices, debates and compromises of people who are trying their best to live ethical lives." Anne Meneley, Trent University

Kirstin Munro is Assistant Professor of Economics at The New School for Social Research in New York.

1. Introduction: “This Can’t Be All Up to Me”

2. Eco-Conscious Household Production and Capitalist Society

3. Priorities in Eco-Conscious Households

4. Resources and Constraints in Eco-Conscious Households

5. Managing Household Waste

6. Cleanliness and Comfort

7. Doing Their Own Research

8. Conflict

9. “How Do We Live with Ourselves?”

10. Conclusion: “We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us”