Sustainable Consumption and Care

  • 5,850

    Total downloads

  • 43k

    Total views and downloads

About this Research Topic

Submission closed

Background

Sustainable consumption is an essential element for the transition towards sustainable lifestyles. In our daily lives, care is intertwined with processes of looking after oneself, family, households and friends as well as distant others and the community as a whole. As such, it addresses all planes of human lives. From a sustainability perspective, care also relates to the living environment and the resources necessary for production and consumption. Looking at sustainable consumption through the lens of care offers us conceptual tools to reframe how to safeguard the planet, its biodiversity and the people living on it. In a classic definition, care is summarized as ‘a species activity that includes everything that we do to maintain, continue, and repair our “world” so that we can live in it as well as possible. Fisher and Tronto (1991) mention, that world includes our bodies, our selves, and our environment, all of which we seek to interweave in a complex, life-sustaining web. Care highlights our vulnerability as living beings and the way a complex network of life-sustaining relationships holds us responsible to each other. Care is thus a significant thread that links together the ecological, economic, social and political systems we act within, with important implications for sustainable consumption and building sustainable societies.

Scholarship on how care and sustainable practices interact is fragmented, but the interest is growing. Care originates in feminist scholarship first developed in relation to health. In more recent years, its uses have been also expanding to environmental and sustainability realms. Today, the work on sustainable consumption and care can be roughly divided into four categories. The first area of work relates to whether ethical or political consumption can allow caring relations to flourish and develop. The second area of research is concerned with sustainability in the context of motherhood, mostly showing how gender relations and caring activities tend to send sustainability in the background in favor of a focus on health. A third and growing body of work pertains to how inconspicuous consumption is intertwined with care activities, for example in relation to food or energy consumption. Such work also addresses gender and social inequalities in sustainable consumption, as well as notions of communities built through consumption practices and caring relations. Finally, care as a dimension of geographical communities or communities of interest that supports sustainability and resilience is also gaining traction.

The goal of this Research Topic is to delineate and differentiate the interplay between sustainable consumption and care. We are interested in ‘care’ in the context of sustainable consumption including social, economic and ecological sustainability. Resource use and material, energy and time demand differ widely amongst caring practices. We want to identify and explore tensions, common ground, innovations and key issues in these areas. We consider care as a useful concept to imagine and bring about societies oriented towards sustainable wellbeing and to define the pathways and practices necessary to achieve them.

As we wish to define a new research area, this topic aims to discuss the interrelation between care and sustainability by addressing (but not limited to) the following themes from a variety of perspectives, amongst others feminism, gender studies and intersectional approaches, socio-technical systems, social practice theories, critical theory, transformative approaches, time-use studies, socio-ecological transformation or Actor-Network Theory:

● An ethos of care as a pathway towards more sustainable forms of production and consumption

● Conceptualizing needs and wellbeing through the lens of care

● Analyzing caring practices from a perspective of climate change, resource use and energy demands

● Methodological implications of care and an intersectional feminist approach to sustainable consumption

● Time for care in the unpaid and paid world of work (incl. commodification and outsourcing of care in the global economy)

● Teleoaffectivities, emotions, the body and social norms

● Agency, social and environmental justice, inequalities and sustainable wellbeing

● Care for the community and the public good as a way towards a more sustainable society

We are particularly interested in original research, methodological and theoretical papers, case studies as well as policy and practice reviews.

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

Frequently asked questions

  • Frontiers' Research Topics are collaborative hubs built around an emerging theme.Defined, managed, and led by renowned researchers, they bring communities together around a shared area of interest to stimulate collaboration and innovation.

    Unlike section journals, which serve established specialty communities, Research Topics are pioneer hubs, responding to the evolving scientific landscape and catering to new communities.

  • The goal of Frontiers' publishing program is to empower research communities to actively steer the course of scientific publishing. Our program was implemented as a three-part unit with fixed field journals, flexible specialty sections, and dynamically emerging Research Topics, connecting communities of different sizes and maturity.

    Research Topics originate from the scientific community. Many of our Research Topics are suggested by existing editorial board members who have identified critical challenges or areas of interest in their field.

  • As an editor, Research Topics will help you build your journal, as well as your community, around emerging, cutting-edge research. As research trailblazers, Research Topics attract high-quality submissions from leading experts all over the world.

    A thriving Research Topic can potentially evolve into a new specialty section if there is sustained interest and a growing community around it.

  • Each Research Topic must be approved by the specialty chief editor, and it falls under the editorial oversight of our editorial boards, supported by our in-house research integrity team. The same standards and rigorous peer review processes apply to articles published as part of a Research Topic as for any other article we publish.

    In 2023, 80% of the Research Topics we published were edited or co-edited by our editorial board members, who are already familiar with their journal's scope, ethos, and publishing model. All other topics are guest edited by leaders in their field, each vetted and formally approved by the specialty chief editor.

  • Publishing your article within a Research Topic with other related articles increases its discoverability and visibility, which can lead to more views, downloads, and citations. Research Topics grow dynamically as more published articles are added, causing frequent revisiting, and further visibility.

    As Research Topics are multidisciplinary, they are cross-listed in several fields and section journals – increasing your reach even more and giving you the chance to expand your network and collaborate with researchers in different fields, all focusing on expanding knowledge around the same important topic.

    Our larger Research Topics are also converted into ebooks and receive social media promotion from our digital marketing team.

  • Frontiers offers multiple article types, but it will depend on the field and section journals in which the Research Topic will be featured. The available article types for a Research Topic will appear in the drop-down menu during the submission process.

    Check available article types here 

  • Yes, we would love to hear your ideas for a topic. Most of our Research Topics are community-led and suggested by researchers in the field. Our in-house editorial team will contact you to talk about your idea and whether you’d like to edit the topic. If you’re an early-stage researcher, we will offer you the opportunity to coordinate your topic, with the support of a senior researcher as the topic editor. 

    Suggest your topic here 

  • A team of guest editors (called topic editors) lead their Research Topic. This editorial team oversees the entire process, from the initial topic proposal to calls for participation, the peer review, and final publications.

    The team may also include topic coordinators, who help the topic editors send calls for participation, liaise with topic editors on abstracts, and support contributing authors. In some cases, they can also be assigned as reviewers.

  • As a topic editor (TE), you will take the lead on all editorial decisions for the Research Topic, starting with defining its scope. This allows you to curate research around a topic that interests you, bring together different perspectives from leading researchers across different fields and shape the future of your field. 

    You will choose your team of co-editors, curate a list of potential authors, send calls for participation and oversee the peer review process, accepting or recommending rejection for each manuscript submitted.

  • As a topic editor, you're supported at every stage by our in-house team. You will be assigned a single point of contact to help you on both editorial and technical matters. Your topic is managed through our user-friendly online platform, and the peer review process is supported by our industry-first AI review assistant (AIRA).

  • If you’re an early-stage researcher, we will offer you the opportunity to coordinate your topic, with the support of a senior researcher as the topic editor. This provides you with valuable editorial experience, improving your ability to critically evaluate research articles and enhancing your understanding of the quality standards and requirements for scientific publishing, as well as the opportunity to discover new research in your field, and expand your professional network.

  • Yes, certificates can be issued on request. We are happy to provide a certificate for your contribution to editing a successful Research Topic.

  • Research Topics thrive on collaboration and their multi-disciplinary approach around emerging, cutting-edge themes, attract leading researchers from all over the world.

  • As a topic editor, you can set the timeline for your Research Topic, and we will work with you at your pace. Typically, Research Topics are online and open for submissions within a few weeks and remain open for participation for 6 – 12 months. Individual articles within a Research Topic are published as soon as they are ready.

    Find out more about our Research Topics

  • Our fee support program ensures that all articles that pass peer review, including those published in Research Topics, can benefit from open access – regardless of the author's field or funding situation.

    Authors and institutions with insufficient funding can apply for a discount on their publishing fees. A fee support application form is available on our website.

  • In line with our mission to promote healthy lives on a healthy planet, we do not provide printed materials. All our articles and ebooks are available under a CC-BY license, so you can share and print copies.