Theme

Lifestyles

Presentation

It is now clear that the transition is both a social and political change, and a technical and economic one. By looking at lifestyles (food, transport, housing, consumption, etc.), a concept which is attracting growing scientific interest, we can fully grasp what is at stake and make progress in identifying the conditions for change. The concept of lifestyles also highlights the importance of collective structures (physical and institutional), social norms, economic rules and commercial offers in individual trajectories. These are over-determining dimensions over which the individual alone has very little control. Lifestyles, as the meeting points between the specific characteristics of individuals and social groups and collective rules, are therefore a crucial place for thinking about the conditions of transition. 

Lifestyles are changing, and they are "in transition" under a variety of influences. Among the spheres that influence them, public authorities, acting for the general interest and producers of regulations, have a particularly strong legitimacy to act on them within the framework of the democratic contract “signed” with citizens. Historically, in response to the challenges facing society, it has done so in a number of areas by changing the way we eat, our mobility needs, the urbanisation of our territory, our health habits and so on. 

Today we face a new challenge: that of sufficiency and the achievement of a sustainable society. The planet's limits and the urgency of the environmental crises mean that we need to mobilise every possible means of transforming our relationship with life and natural resources and adapting to these crises. This includes sober lifestyles in developed countries and the technical infrastructures that underpin our daily and economic lives. The challenge is immense, and involves acting now to move towards greater sufficiency in a society built on the promise of material and energy abundance.

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