Summary Literature AEEP
Theme 1 – Consumer choice, Risk, expected Utility, decision theory
Altruism
Grolleau, G., Ibanez, L., & Mzoughi, N. (2009). Too much of a good thing? Why altruism can harm
the environment? Ecological Economics, 68(7), 2145–2149.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.02.020
• Homo economicus vs. homo politicus
• Motivated by personal well-being vs considering subjective social welfare function
• an egoistic consumer is willing to pay more for an eco-labelled product, if it entails private
benefits
• altruistic consumers having a too high willingness to pay for a eco-labeled product can prevent
egoistic consumers from purchasing it
• interplay between nature of environmental attributes (private vs public) and the consumer type
(egoistic vs altruistic)
• e.g. environmental quality from sustainable managed forests=public
• success of ecolabels is defined by the respective number of altruists and egoists in the economy
• Preposition 1
• if the level of altruism is high, altruists prevent egoists from purchasing eco-labeled products (only
altruists by a product at this price)
• the total level f public benefirs is not necessarily optimized when only altruists purchase the
ecolabeled producrt
• The environment would be better off, with an eco-label that provides a lower environmental
quality but is addressed to al consumers
• Preposition 2
• Altrusits reduce the overall environmental benefits by preventing egoists from purhchasing eco-
labeled products
• The same consumer may behave in an altruistic way for some products while behaving egoistically
for other products. Intuitively, the inadequate matching between the emphasized environmental
attributes and the consumer type can lead to the failure of the eco-label scheme.
Practice theory
Warde, A. (2005). Consumption and Theories of Practice. Journal of Consumer Culture, 5(2), 131–153.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540505053090
• Practice=routinised type of behaviour which consists of several elements, interconnected to one
another; are coordinated entities which require performance for their existence
• A practice is social, as it is a “type” of behaving and understanding that appears at different
locales and at different points in time and is carried out by different body/minds
• The conventions and the standards of the practice steer behaviour
• Practices will always be conditional upon the institutional arrangements characteristic of time,
space and social context
• 2 central notions of practice:
1. practice as a coordinated entity
▪ temporarily unfolding and spatially dispersed, e.g. cooking, voting, industrial, recreational,
correctional oractices
▪ Schatzki: through understandings/procedures (explicit rules)/engagements (embracing
tasks, beliefs, moods, emotions ("teleoaffective"))
2. practice as perfromance
▪ carrying out of practices
▪ practice=
• -pattern which can be filled out by a multitude of single and often unique actions reproducing the
practice
• -coordinated entities which requires performance ->performance presupposes a practice
, • dispersed practices
o many sectors of social life
o describing, following rules, explaining, imagining
o their performance requires understanding
• integrative practices
o constructive of particular domains in social life
o farming, cooking, business practices
o can include dispersed practices
o requires and entails consumption
• empirical evidence indicates differences between groups of people with regard to their
understandings of a practice, the procedures they adopt and the values to which they aspire
o agents vary in their understandings, skills and goals, as well as the relationship between these
three components
• Consumption:
o the effect of production on consumption is mediated through the nexus of practices
o consumption is not a unified and coherent activity, nor is it per se an integrated practice
▪ it is not itself a practice but is, rather, a moment in almost every practice.
o most practices and all integrative practices require and entail consumption
o consumption cannot be restricted nor defined by market exchange
o consumption cannot be reduced to demand, requiring instead its examination as an integral part
of most spheres of daily life
o it is the fact of engagement in the practice, rather than any personal decision about a course of
conduct, that explains the nature and process of consumption
• practice theories are neither individualist nor holist; they portray social organization as something
other than individuals making contracts
