Thursday 23 July 11:25 - 12:55

Hall: 12 - Polveriera

Chair and Discussant: Vecchio Luca

Division: Division 9: Economic Psychology

"Sustainability" risks becoming (if it has not already) an empty word, devoid of meaning, lacking a clear reference to the concrete reality of human life and the practices in which it is realized. Initially, the term could evoke a project of possible transformation - social, economic, and even political - aimed at improving "new" ways of life. Now, however, it increasingly seems to serve as a mere label, used to reassure those who read it and to placate the (bad) conscience of those who use it, ensuring the perpetuation of the current socio-economic development model with only superficial and cosmetic adaptations. This development model continues to expand its global dominance and appears unstoppable, despite its recognized unsustainability, as demonstrated by the continuous rise in pollution and the growing inequalities, both reaching unprecedented levels.In response to this dynamic, some have proposed a distinction between "true" and "false" sustainability (Galdo, 2025).
Starting from these considerations, this symposium proposes a critical discussion on the perspectives of sustainability, with particular reference to environmental sustainability and the climate crisis.The symposium is conceived as an opportunity for discussion to reflect on what the role of psychology could/should be in promoting true sustainability in this area, supporting actions and initiatives genuinely capable of fostering the real transformation required to address complex socio-ecological challenges.
A fundamental assumption is that, given the complexity of the issue,psychology must engage in dialogue with other research and study perspectives.For this reason,the symposium seeks to involve even scholars from disciplines other than psychology (sociology, organizational sciences, political science).The various contributions,both empirical and theoretical,aim to highlight,from a critical perspective, the difficulties and contradictions characterizing the most widespread approaches to promoting eco-sustainable behaviours.Two contributions (Hornung and Böhm) in particular discuss how environmental sustainability strategies and behaviours can be negatively influenced by ideological beliefs.The challengesofeducationforenvironmentalsustainabilitywhentakingpsychology'sindividual-levelperspectivearediscussedby a thirdcontributor(Kössler).Thelastcontribution(Dal Gobbo)alsocriticallyaddressesthisindividual-centredness.
Atthesametime,thecontributionstrytoofferpragmaticindicationsonhowandatwhatleveltointervenetosupporteffectiveclimateaction.