Sustainable consumption and individual responsibility

Abstract: The more urgent the climate crisis become, the more responsibility is placed on individuals to reduce their carbon emissions and become ‘sustainable consumers’. If individuals are given such a responsibility, it is important to examine whether they perceive that they can fulfill it. This thesis main aim is therefore to qualitatively examine how and to what degree income impacts people’s perceived abilities to become sustainable consumers. Additionally, it explores how other factors such as motivation, knowledge and infrastructure can hinder individuals' perceived abilities and potentially relate to income. To study this, a comparative case study was done where 25 individuals from three different socioeconomic neighborhoods were interviewed. Thus, this thesis also explores how the perceived ability differed between socioeconomic neighborhoods. Drawing from research on the ‘attitude-behavior’ gap as well as Micheletti’s and Barkman’s theories on sustainable consumption, the results indicated that higher levels of income generally resulted in a larger perceived ability to consume sustainably, where there were clear differences in perceived abilities between the neighborhoods. However, the influence of income could change depending on availability of green infrastructure, level of motivation and knowledge. A high level of motivation and knowledge could for example undermine the restraining effects of income.