Key messages The paper studies the interrelation between sufficiency principles and consumption patterns of low-income groups. The paper identifies three characteristics: sufficiency as a necessity, as opposition, and as a reframing of sustainability. A normalisation of reduced consumption for the well-off would help low-income groups and advance sufficiency principles. Introduction Substantial evidence now suggests that without large-scale cuts in the volume of energy and resources appropriated by high-income nations planetary boundaries will
Key messages Sufficiency has not yet gained ground in Finnish climate policy. The sufficiency politics and policies found in the plans were vague and relied mostly on voluntary change. The potential macroeconomic impact of voluntary consumption reduction is largely ignored. Introduction To limit global warming to 1.5°C, household energy consumption should be moderated, especially in the overconsuming parts of the world. Thus far, no country – not even the Nordic welfare states – has been able to deliver human well-being without putting an
Key messages Sufficiency can be described by combing social practice theory with a need approach to wellbeing. Planned sufficiency is a situation where living with less and living well can be combined if supported by society. Synergic satisfiers must be planned for collectively to meet the needs of the most people in an energy transition. A way of describing synergic changes and configurations of practices towards sufficiency is proposed. Introduction For the first time, the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
61 FOUR self-sufficiency, social assistance and the shaming of poverty in south Korea Yongmie Nicola Jo and Robert Walker South Korea was re-established in 1948 as an independent democratic nation after being annexed by Japan in 1910 for 35 years and experiencing three years of militaristic rule by the US between 1945 and 1948. However, the Korean War (1950-53) subsequently led to its partition into the Republic of Korea, better known as South Korea, and North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic. Since the end of the war, South Korea has experienced a
refugees, but to encourage them to work for themselves and thus become producers of wealth and independent citizens as soon as possible.’ 13 This was enabled through the common naturalization of refugees at the time, which significantly reduced barriers to accessing work. The provision of material assistance to refugees was innovative for the time and ‘League initiatives in helping refugees achieve self-sufficiency were a dramatic departure from the past’. 14 The League’s overall doctrine of refugee self-reliance persisted into the 1930s, reflecting the tenets of
much, what does it mean for the rest of the people in the Nordics, and in the rest of the world? How should the Nordic countries approach the challenge of providing welfare within planetary boundaries? We don’t have a final solution, but based on the contributions to this special issue, sufficiency poses a possible way forward in emphasizing consuming less over consuming differently. Sufficiency has been defined by the IPCC as ‘a set of measures and daily practices that avoid demand for energy, materials, land and water while delivering human wellbeing for all
Publicly-subsidised housing in the United States is a critically important resource for low-income families, and especially critical to single mothers. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ( CBPP, 2017 ), about five million US households receive subsidies through public housing units or voucher programmes, with funding adequate to serve only about one-fourth of eligible households. This article focuses on a programme funded through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) programme. FSS aims
this basic assumption of moral equality may seem to imply a demanding principle of distributive equality. We might think that because children have equal claims of justice, the morally best society is one in which children live equally good lives. However, I will reject this more demanding requirement of equality because of what is known as ‘the levelling-down objection’. After rejecting distributive equality, I consider the two leading alternatives: the sufficiency and priority principles. Sufficiency requires that each person gets ‘enough’ of whatever is to
In the context of the calls for sufficiency held by climate experts, consumption is a major lever of ecological transition. Numerous international reports, non-governmental organisations (NGO) advocates and media articles highlight the need for consumers to change their consumption behaviour to achieve sustainable development. For their part, governments in many countries have implemented sustainable consumption policies to guide consumers towards behaviours that reduce greenhouse gas emissions ( Welch and Southerton, 2019 ). This centrality of consumption is
debates about sustainable consumption across society. Such debates often overlook the fact that low-income households are among the lowest emitters and should not form the target for consumption reduction initiatives. This chapter is not concerned with households who, for example, due to their health, family structure, location or the energy performance of their home, are above average consumers. It is not concerned exclusively with the super-rich, but instead focuses on a broader group that are consuming resources beyond what is termed sufficiency, which refers to
