Buildings & Cities (Jul 2024)
Structural barriers to sufficiency: the contribution of research on elites
Abstract
‘Sufficiency’ has become a key term within sustainability science. The satisfaction of basic human needs for all and for multiple generations is only possible if coupled to the implementation of ecological ceilings that prevent wealthy groups from disproportionate production and consumption patterns and energy use. While much sufficiency research has focused on the poor and how to provide corresponding social floors (i.e. an adequate level of sufficiency), this conceptual paper theorises structural barriers to implementing ecological ceilings for production and consumption by considering research on elites. The argument is illustrated with examples from urban spaces that are increasingly structured to accommodate the preferences of economic elites. A better scholarly understanding of the structural barriers to sufficiency dissemination can be facilitated through a systematic account of the political, social and symbolic strategies deployed by elites to accumulate and legitimise power. Conversely, a consideration of sufficiency principles would also be beneficial for research on elites, which has so far focused on social inequality and sidelined the ecological crisis. The discussion highlights how research on sufficiency and elite consumption may interact to be mutually beneficial. A research agenda is proposed to understand economic elites as barriers to the dissemination of sufficiency principles. Policy relevance Economic elites have a disproportionate ecological footprint if planetary boundaries are taken seriously and respected in policymaking. In an ecologically constrained planet, elite lifestyles undermine the satisfaction of basic needs of most of the population and future generations. Nevertheless, elites count as role models. This critical literature review reveals the separate traditions of research on sufficiency and elites, the political, social and symbolic strategies that economic elites employ to justify their privileged status in times of climate emergency and social–ecological transformation. These strategies are presented as major structural barriers to the dissemination of sufficiency principles that policymakers must consider when promoting and realising alternative and sustainable production and consumption patterns. The enormity of this task is illustrated by the fact that few people currently support policy measures to regulate economic elites via, for example, caps on income and wealth.
Keywords
