YSS31806 Consumer, Technology and Innovation (YSS31806)
Institution
Wageningen University (WUR)
Summary of all the readings for the course YSS31806 Consumer, Technology and Innovation (overview of the articles can be seen on the first page). Contains the literature for the exam in April 2021.
YSS31806 Consumer, Technology and Innovation (YSS31806)
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YSS31806 Articles
Lecture 2: Consuming technologies - developing routines (K. Gram-Hanssen, 2008) ............................. 2
Lecture 2: Technology and Household Activities (J.P. Groot-Marcus, P.M.J. Terpstra, L.P.A.
Steenbekkers, & C.A.A. Butijn, 2006) ....................................................................................................... 5
Lecture 3: Promoting daily physical activity by means of mobile gaming: a review of the state of the art
- M. Tabak, M. Dekker-van Weering, H. van Dijk, M. Vollenbroek-Hutten (2015) ................................... 7
Lecture 3: Social tipping dynamics for stabilizing Earth’s climate by 2050 - (Otto, Donges, Cremades et
al., 2020) .................................................................................................................................................. 8
Lecture 4: Parent distraction with phones, reasons for use, and impacts on parenting and child
outcomes: A review of the emerging research - McDaniel (2019) .......................................................... 9
Lecture 5: Social Health Inequalities and eHealth: A literature review with qualitative synthesis of
theoretical and empirical studies - Latulippe, Hamel, & Giroux (2017) ................................................. 10
Lecture 5: Digital inequalities in the use of self-tracking diet and fitness apps: interview study on the
influence of social, economic, and cultural factors - Régnier, & Chauvel (2018) ................................... 12
Lecture 6: A phased framework for long-term user acceptance of interactive technology in domestic
environments - De Graaf, Allouch, & Van Dijk (2018) ............................................................................ 13
Lecture 6: User Involvement throughout the Innovation Process in High-Tech Industries - Bosch-
Sijtsema & Bosch (2014) ........................................................................................................................ 15
Lecture 7: Climate-relevant behavioural spillover and the potential contribution of social practice
theory - Nash et al. (2017) ..................................................................................................................... 18
Lecture 7: Real-time feedback promotes energy conservation in the absence of volunteer selection
bias and monetary incentives - Tiefenbeck et al., (2019) ...................................................................... 23
Lecture 8: “The truth is not in the middle”: Journalistic norms of climate change bloggers - van Eck,
Mulder, & Dewulf (2019) ....................................................................................................................... 24
Lecture 8: Selling health and happiness how influencers communicate on Instagram about dieting and
exercise: mixed methods research - Pilgrim & Bohnet-Joschko (2019) ................................................. 27
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,Lecture 2: Consuming technologies - developing routines (K. Gram-Hanssen,
2008)
It’s difficult to make people change their routines. Nevertheless, the argument presented in this paper
is that history shows that we change our routines all the time. However, this is not a result of concern
for the environment or the result of campaigns to save energy; it is rather due to changes in the social
organisation of everyday life combined with the introduction of new technologies.
Consumption theory and routines
During the 1990s there was a growing body of research on consumption from different social sciences.
It is interesting to note that in a parallel, but independent process, consumption also became an issue
in environmental policy and in environmental research, areas which had previously focused solely on
the production process. The new focus of consumption theories was on the communicative and cultural
aspects of consumption and one of the main discussions was on the extent to which consumption
should be interpreted in light of modern or late-modern understanding of identify formation. Work by
Bourdieu interpreted consumption from a class-based perspective, where norms and values are learned
and internalised in childhood and unconsciously reproduced in adulthood. However, late-modern
theories from Giddens and others question the strength of the class-based structures in more recent
society and emphasise the individual’s ability and need to reflect and construct his or her own identity.
A common feature of most of these consumption theories is that they focus strongly on the
communicative aspects of conspicuous consumption, but a recent body of research from among others
Warde and Shove has opposed this, stating that a major part of our consumption is mundane, ordinary
and is based upon routine. The work presented in this paper follows this line, focusing on how routines
of everyday consumption emerge, develop and change, and focusing on the role that routines have in
establishing a secure and liveable everyday life, where we are not compelled to do the overwhelming
task of reflecting on every single act.
Giddens:
• The way actors and structures mutually form each other, the recurrent nature of social life; he sees
actions as processes rather than as distinct phenomena;
• Giddens is inspired by psychology and he explains the repetition and recognition of routines as a
way of creating safety and security.
Bourdieu:
• Bourdieu’s understanding of practices is closely related to the notion of habitus, which is a practical
sense of how to view and divide the world;
• An important aspect of the notion of habitus is how our parents’ possessions of cultural and
economic capital are decisive for the constitution of habitus;
• In this way, the notion of class becomes an important aspect of how social structures are reshaped
in the physical surroundings through the things we possess.
Recent practice of researchers, who draw on Giddens as well as Bourdieu in their descriptions of the
routines of everyday life emphasise that both body and things (or technologies) are important for
understanding practice, through mind, knowledge, structure and agency should also be included. In this
understanding of practice the actor is viewed more as a carrier of routines than as an independent
individual and this has importance for understanding how to make individuals change their routines.
The most complete recent practice theory is described by Schatzki and here we find not just a theory of
practice, but also a new theoretical direction in social science. According to Schatzki, the understanding
of the social should be based on concrete practices rather than in abstract structures. Schatzki gives a
very detailed description of how to conceptualise practices. Basically, a practice is a set of doings and
sayings that are organized on different levels. Schatzki, thus, provides a much broader vocabulary to
describe practices compared to Bourdieu and Giddens. From an empirical point of view the question is
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, whether this broader vocabulary can give us a better insight into how routines emerge, develop and
change. To answer this, first of all, we have to recognise that Schatzki does not actually use the word
routine himself; however, it is not difficult to interpret routines as part of projects, doings and sayings
which comprise the practices.
Historic development, household technology and everyday life
With the introduction of new technologies, routines changed dramatically in all aspect of everyday life
in the last century. In the following the author describes the outline of these historical developments
with a focus on how and when the technologies entered homes as well on how routines in households
were changed by them.
• 1878: Edison announced his invention of the electric light system and his ambition that is should be
available for everybody;
• Electricity for lighting would only become common in Danish households with a synchronous
infrastructure development of grids and power stations, and soon the newly established electricity
companies where interested in expanding the market for electricity by introducing household
appliances;
• 1920: vacuum cleaners, refrigerators and irons where available in store;
• 1950: 70% of households in the countryside had access to shared freezers and laundry facilities;
• 1920: before World War II about 80% of Danish households had a radio. TV followed in 1951 and
ten years later a majority of Danish households had a television;
• 1980: personal computers were introduced on the market and ten years later they started
becoming normal in Danish households
In this article, Gram-Hanssen is interested in how routines change, develop and stabilize together with
changes in social, cultural and physical structures.
Using technologies - developing routines
Interviews were conducted with people concerning their energy consumption and everyday life. The
main question to answer is to what extent routines are influenced by the social and cultural structures
of society, including both norms unconsciously carried from childhood, as well as influences from
present technologies or individual reflection.
Comfort - heating and lighting the home
In a study of 1000 identical houses with very different energy consumption it was found that one of the
main explanations for the difference in heating consumption is related to the indoor temperature. Thus,
a relevant question is why some people maintain a higher temperature than others. People associate
high or low temperatures with very different things. Using Schatzki to interpret this we hear that the
individual action of maintaining the temperature is guided by something that makes sense to the
individual. This understanding leaves room to interpret individual differences within the same social
practice of heating the house.
Another aspect of energy consumption related to heating is connected with the routines of how to
regulate the valve of the radiator. Here technology plays a more direct role, as the logic of district
heating and thermostat valves prompts households to a specific routine which is to leave the valves in
the same position all the time, only closing them when airing. Some do it because the caretaker tells
them to, in others the husband is in charge and decides to do it this way.
The practices of lighting is strongly influenced by cultural norms of cosiness and interior decoration style
as shown in a comparative study between Norway and Japan. Lighting might, however, also be one of
the cases where norms from childhood can be seen to influence the routines of adulthood. Three
generations ago electricity was very expensive and one had to be careful in turning off the light when it
was not needed. Before that, the technology of lighting was based on burning flames and the fire hazard
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