From Sustainable Consumption to Climate Activism. Sustainability Careers of Young People in Germany.

From Sustainable Consumption to Climate Activism. 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Sustainability Careers of Young People in Germany. Sarah von Querfurth, Carsten Herbes This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4349852/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This article examines young people’s pathways towards climate activism and how they relate to consumption practices. Based on 21 narrative interviews with younger adults in Germany, we identified different types of consumption practices and corresponding attitudes towards sustainability among activists, supporters and non-supporters of the climate movement. Using the concept of “careers of practice” by Reckwitz (2002), we highlight how sustainable consumption practices were broadened by supporters and actvists of the climate movement Fridays for Future. This emerged parallel to the development of the personal meaning of reflective consumption practices geared towards sustainability. For the group of activists, the relevance of individual consumption practices shrinks over time and they see more impact in political activism. They continue sustainable consumption practices but emphasize participating in political activism. The article identifies typical pathways of young adults coping with the experience of the climate crises and relates their “sustainability careers” to biographical markers. Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Sociology Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Climate-change mitigation Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Psychology and behaviour Full Text Additional Declarations (Not answered) Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. 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