A significant proportion of research in the field of psychology has been
dedicated to the promotion of sustainable behaviours among individuals, with
the objective of effecting the desired social change. However, these studies
often ignore the social meanings of sustainable practices and the relational and
identity-related issues that contribute to their construction and transformation.
Other studies have focused on the social determinants of sustainable practices,
overlooking the potential for social actors to resist the dominant norms. The
theory of social representations has been demonstrated to be a valuable
framework for understanding how the meanings of sustainable practices are
constructed in and within the diverse spheres (scientific, political, media,
everyday, etc.) of knowledge production. By exploring how meaning is
constructed in and negotiated within these different spheres, the theory can
overcome the limitations of approaches that are either psychologising or
sociologising in nature. Consequently, it is possible to gain a more profound
understanding of the social and identity issues that shape sustainable practices.
A research project investigating social representations of sufficiency and energy
sufficiency in France will be used as an example. This project explores how the
concept of energy sufficiency is re-constructed and negotiated in and within
different spheres of meaning construction and by different social actors. To this
end, an extensive body of research has been conducted, encompassing a press
analysis of 581 articles, a social network analysis of 236,161 tweets, and six
focus groups interviews. The findings of this study indicate that the examination
of energy sufficiency should be approached from a social and political
perspective, rather than merely as a scientific concept.