Version 3.2

Sufficiency is care work – how to combine care theories with circular value creation?

Sufficiency calls for the absolute reduction of production and consumption volumes to create safe operating spaces within planetary boundaries. Sufficiency-oriented production and consumption practices exist to satisfy universal human needs instead of superfluous consumer wants. However, current alternative economic concepts such as the Circular Economy (CE) are neglecting sufficiency. By only focusing on technological improvement, they do not challenge the structural growth imperatives and material affluence that drive environmental and social injustice. CE cannot ignore essential sufficiency characteristics such as care and needs, or the redistribution of knowledge and power. The concept must consider circularities beyond material and technological cycles.

Recent studies revealed the significance of care values and competences in sufficiency-oriented business practices. Efforts to reduce production and consumption volume necessitate time, reflection, and constant feedback from the stakeholder community. Sufficiency practitioners take these efforts into account because of their distinctive competence to care for others and the environment. Care is reflected in their operations, for example by creating products solely answering to human needs or by investing time into creating high-quality long-lasting products. Despite recent empirical evidence identifying care competences and values as essential elements of sufficiency-oriented practices, concepts understanding the link and interactions between care and sufficiency are missing in the literature. This study develops a typology of care based on significant care theories from fields such as feminist ethics, feminist economics, or ecofeminism. This knowledge of care is then tested in CE research to observe how studies describe and implement care in their circular concepts. My goal is to explore how dimensions of care can support need-oriented circular value creation to enable a sufficiency-oriented CE.

Info

Day: 2023-08-30
Start time: 12:15
Duration: 00:15
Room: ZV-8-1
Type: Paper Presentation
Theme: Alternative economies

Links:

Concurrent Sessions