Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
1.1 It’s the Economy, Stupid!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
1.2 Structure of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6
2 What Political Economy Adds to Transformation Research . . . . . . . 13
2.1 Digging into Societal Transformation and System
Innovation Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1.1 Socio-technical Systems and Their Innovations. . . . . . . . . . 20
2.1.2 Socio-ecological Systems and Their Safe Operating
Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.1.3 Socio-ecological-Technical Systems and Their
Repurposing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.1.4 The Economic Paradigm Shift Behind Today’s
World: Karl Polanyi’s Heritage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.2 Summary: Paradigm Shifts and Large System Change:
Humanity’s Structured Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3 Why the Mainstream Economic Paradigm Cannot Inform
Sustainability Transformations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.1 How Mainstream Economics Views Human Needs
and Their Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.1.1 What Is Utility and Where Is It Created? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.1.2 Is ‘Having’ Really All the Fun There Is? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.1.3 Checking Human Happiness and the Link with Income . . . 67
3.1.4 How Does a Homo Economicus Feel and Act?. . . . . . . . . . 72
3.1.5 Summary: Human Need Perception and Well-Being
Depend on the Processes Behind Creating Wealth . . . . . . . 76
3.2 How Mainstream Economics Views Nature
and Its Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
3.2.1 What Types of Capital Exist and Where Do They
Come from? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
xv
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
1.1 It’s the Economy, Stupid!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
1.2 Structure of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6
2 What Political Economy Adds to Transformation Research . . . . . . . 13
2.1 Digging into Societal Transformation and System
Innovation Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1.1 Socio-technical Systems and Their Innovations. . . . . . . . . . 20
2.1.2 Socio-ecological Systems and Their Safe Operating
Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.1.3 Socio-ecological-Technical Systems and Their
Repurposing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.1.4 The Economic Paradigm Shift Behind Today’s
World: Karl Polanyi’s Heritage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.2 Summary: Paradigm Shifts and Large System Change:
Humanity’s Structured Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3 Why the Mainstream Economic Paradigm Cannot Inform
Sustainability Transformations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.1 How Mainstream Economics Views Human Needs
and Their Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.1.1 What Is Utility and Where Is It Created? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.1.2 Is ‘Having’ Really All the Fun There Is? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.1.3 Checking Human Happiness and the Link with Income . . . 67
3.1.4 How Does a Homo Economicus Feel and Act?. . . . . . . . . . 72
3.1.5 Summary: Human Need Perception and Well-Being
Depend on the Processes Behind Creating Wealth . . . . . . . 76
3.2 How Mainstream Economics Views Nature
and Its Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
3.2.1 What Types of Capital Exist and Where Do They
Come from? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
xv