Degrowth in Practice: Developing an Ecological Habitus within Permaculture Entrepreneurship

Robson Silva Sø Rocha
Additional contact information
Robson Silva Sø Rocha: Department of Management, Århus University, 8210 Århus, Denmark

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 14, 1-23

Abstract: The literature on degrowth has suffered from only engaging with normative ideas. More recently the degrowth debate has started moving from a normative perspective to close the wide gap that has existed between normative ideas and is analysing how to link ideas to the institutional and cultural environment that shapes practices. To address this challenge, we draw on the work of Pierre Bourdieu in order to examine transformations in the habitus and forms of capital of those who decide to move into sustainable entrepreneurship through permaculture in Brazil. Permaculture represents a vibrant alternative to industrial food production and addresses fundamental contemporary social problems, such as increasing inequalities, climate change and the loss of biodiversity. The article explores the challenges faced and respective responses of those who decide to change their relationships with nature and society by becoming permaculture entrepreneurs (PEs). The paper shows that, when entering the permaculture universe, individuals start critically examining their values and ways of living, which leads to a disengagement from dominant patterns of behaviour and social expectations in order to pursue sustainable lifestyles and thereby develop an ecological habitus.

Keywords: permaculture; degrowth; Pierre Bourdieu; ecological habitus; forms of capital; Brazil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8938/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8938/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:14:p:8938-:d:867978

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().