Circular Economy as a Socio-Technical Imaginary: Uncovering Practical, Symbolic, and Cognitive Aspects of Everyday Life

• In Event: Performing Socio-Technical Imaginaries - II

Abstract

Circular economy (CE) has in recent years become one of the dominant socio-technical imaginaries positioned in opposition to the commanding paradigm of the linear model of industrial growth. Recent scholarly contributions suggest a gap in literature concerning perspectives on consumption and use in a CE. By drawing on theoretical approaches from the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) such as domestication theory and socio-technical imaginaries and based on the findings from expert interviews in Trondheim, Norway, the paper analyses tensions and links between the dominant imaginaries of CE and symbolic, practical, and cognitive aspects related to food waste, domestic technologies, and the use of services in everyday life. The contribution of this research is first to close the gap in the literature on circular economy. Second, it improves the understanding of the role of practices in everyday life when their radical change becomes part of socio-technical imaginaries in transitions towards sustainability.

Author

• Thomas Edward Sutcliffe, Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU)