Cover not available
Article published In:
Culture of Sustainability and Discourses of Social Change
Edited by Franzisca Weder
[Journal of Language and Politics 22:5] 2023
► pp. 577–600

Cultivation of sustainability in a discourse of change

Perspectives on communication for sustainability as new “norm” and principle of action in socio-ecological transformation processes

ORCID logo | Vienna University of Business and Economics

Sustainability has been well used (and abused) as “buzz-word”, label or language token for certain behavior and action in political, organizational and increasingly in individual communication. Based on critical approaches in language, discourse and communication studies, the paper explores potential processes of normalization of sustainability as a new norm, discusses new theories and methodological variations that can be applied to better understand sustainable development, and offers a theoretical concept for cultivation of sustainability as a dialectic process of questioning and stabilization in transformation and change processes. Complemented by a communication for development and social change perspective, the paper lays the theoretical foundation for an understanding of sustainability as organizing principle in socio-ecological change processes, which is further elaborated in the contributions of this Special Issue, which are introduced at the end.

Keywords: cultivation, dialectic, problematization, sustainability, transformation, norm, moralization, cultural change, organization, sustainable communication
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.How sustainability has been “normalized” – without being cultivated
  • 3.Sustainability and communication? Interdisciplinary perspectives
  • 4.Cultivation of sustainability
    • (a)Communicative problematization? Developing a new perspective on ‘normalization’
    • (b)Cultivation of sustainability – a concept
  • 5.Conclusion and about the Special Issue
  • References
Published online: 5 October 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22122.wed
References
Allen, Myria
2016 “Strategic communication for sustainable organizations.” Theory and Practice. Fayetteville, USA: Springer International Publishing.Google Scholar
Axelsson, Robert, Per Angelstam, Erik Degerman, Sara Teitelbaum, Kjell Andersson, Marine Elbakidze, and Marcus K. Drotz
2013 “Social and cultural sustainability: Criteria, indicators, verifier variables for measurement and maps for visualization to support planning.” AMBIO 421: 215–228. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bandura, Albert
2003 “Social Cognitive Theory for Personal and Social Change by Enabling Media.” In Entertainment-Education and Social Change, 97–118. Oxfordshire, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Batel, Susana, Paula Castro, Patrick Devine-Wright, and Caroline Howarth
2016 “Developing a critical agenda to understand pro-environmental actions: contributions from Social Representations and Social Practices Theories.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 7, no. 5: 727–745. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bond, Alan J., and Angus Morrison-Saunders
2011 “Re-evaluating sustainability assessment: aligning the vision and the practice.” Environmental Impact Assessment Review 31, no. 1: 1–7. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brandt, Patric, Anna Ernst, Fabienne Gralla, Christopher Luederitz, Daniel J. Lang, Jens Newig, Florian Reinert, David J. Abson, and Henrik Von Wehrden
2013 “A review of transdisciplinary research in sustainability science.” Ecological Economics 921: 1–15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brundtland, Gro Harlem
1987 “Our common future – Call for action.” Environmental Conservation 14, no. 4: 291–294. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Castro, Paula
2015 “Social Representations of Sustainability: Researching Time, Institution, Conflict and Communication.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Social Representations, edited by Gordon Sammut, Eleni Andreouli, George Gaskell, and Jaan Valsiner, 295–308. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cernea, Michael M.
1993 “Culture and Organization: The Social Sustainability of Induced Development.” Sustainable Development 1, no. 2: 18–29. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cheney, Helen, Natalina Nheu, and Lorien Vecellio
2004 “Sustainability as social change: Values and power in sustainability discourse.” Sustainability and social science: Roundtable proceedings, 225–246.Google Scholar
Dahl, Trine
2022 “Global Villain, but Local Hero? A Linguistic Analysis of Climate Narratives from the Fossil Fuel Sector.” Applied Linguistics 431, no. 11: 1–20. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Davidson, Scott
2016 “Public relations theory: An agonistic critique of the turns to dialogue and symmetry.” Public Relations Inquiry 5, no. 2: 145–167. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dessein, Joost, Katriina Soini, Graham Fairclough, Lummina Horlings, Elena Battaglini, Inger Birkeland, Nancy Duxbury et al.
2015 Culture in, for and as sustainable development: Conclusions from the COST Action IS1007 Investigating Cultural Sustainability. Jyväskylä, Finland: University of Jyväskylä.Google Scholar
Diehl, Sandra, Matthias Karmasin, Barbara Mueller, Ralf Terlutter, and Franzisca Weder
eds. 2017 Handbook of integrated CSR communication. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dutta, Mohan J.
2015 “Decolonizing communication for social change: A culture-centered approach.” Communication Theory 25, no. 2: 123–143. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duxbury, Nancy, and Eileen Gillette
2007 “Culture as a key dimension of sustainability: Exploring concepts, themes, and models.” Working Paper 1, Creative City network of Canada; Centre of Expertise on Culture and Communities: Vancouver, BC, Canada.Google Scholar
Ehrenfeld, John R.
2005 “The roots of sustainability.” MIT Sloan Management Review 46, no. 2: 20–53.Google Scholar
Ekins, Paul, Sandrine Simon, Lisa Deutsch, Carl Folke, and Rudolf De Groot
2003 “A framework for the practical application of the concepts of critical natural capital and strong sustainability.” Ecological economics 44, no. 2–3: 165–185. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Enghel, Florencia, and Jessica Noske-Turner
2018 “Introduction: Communication in international development: towards theorizing across hybrid practices.” In Communication in International Development, 1–18. Oxfordshire, UK: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fairclough, Norman
1992 Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Fairlough, Norman, and Ruth Wodak
1997 “Critical Discourse Analysis.” In Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, edited by Teun A Van Dijk, 21: 258–284. London, UK: SAGE.Google Scholar
Farley, Heather M., and Zachary A. Smith
2020 Sustainability: if it’s everything, is it nothing?. Oxfordshire, UK: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Foucault, Michel
1988 “Technologies of the self.” In Technologies of the self: A seminar with Michel Foucault, 181.Google Scholar
1995 “Discipline and Punish.” The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
2007 “Security, Territory, Population.” Lectures at the Collège de France, 1977–78. New York: Picador and Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Frank, Aliette K.
2017 “What is the story with sustainability? A narrative analysis of diverse and contested understandings.” Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences 71: 310–323. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fraser, Colin, and Jonathan Villet
1994 Communication: A Key to Human Development. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United.Google Scholar
Godemann, Jasmin
2011 “Sustainable communication as an inter-and transdisciplinary discipline.” In Sustainability Communication: Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoretical Foundation, edited by Jasmin Godemann, and Gerd Michelsen, 39–51. Berlin, Germany: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hallahan, Kirk, Derina Holtzhausen, Betteke Van Ruler, Dejan Verčič, and Krishnamurthy Sriramesh
2007 “Defining strategic communication.” International journal of strategic communication 1, no. 1: 3–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hallgren, Lars, Hanna Bergeå, and Lotten Westberg
2018 “Communication problems when participants disagree (or avoid disagreeing) in dialogues in Swedish natural resource management – Challenges to agonism in practice.” Frontiers in Communication 31: 1–11. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hawkes, Jon
2001 The Fourth Pillar of Sustainability: Culture’s Essential Role in Public Planning. Melbourne, Australia: Common Ground.Google Scholar
Hornsey, Matthew J., Emily A. Harris, and Kelly S. Fielding
2018 “Relationships among conspiratorial beliefs, conservatism and climate scepticism across nations.” Nature Climate Change 8, no. 7: 614–620. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Horst, Maja, and Sarah R. Davies
2021 Science communication as culture. Routledge Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology. London, Routledge.Google Scholar
Hurst, Bree, and Kim A. Johnston
2021 “The social imperative in public relations: Utilities of social impact, social license and engagement.” Public Relations Review 47, no. 2: 102039. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Iacob, Constantin Ciprian
2020 “The Role of Organizational Culture in Promoting Sustainable Enterprise.” Annals of the University Dunarea de Jos of Galati: Fascicle: I, Economics & Applied Informatics 261, no. 11: 77–80. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kannengießer, Sigrid
2021 “Sozial-ökologische Transformationsforschung: Desiderata der Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft.“ In Transformation der Medien Medien der Transformation. Verhandlungen des Netzwerks Kritische Kommunikationswissenschaft, edited by Borchers, Nils S. et al., 245–258. Frankfurt am Main.Google Scholar
Ketprapakorn, Nuttasorn, and Sooksan Kantabutra
2022 “Toward an organizational theory of sustainability culture.” Sustainable production and consumption 321: 638–654. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ketschau, Thilo J.
2019 “Dialektik sozialer Nachhaltigkeit als Frage der Gerechtigkeit.” Soziologie und Nachhaltigkeit 5, no. 1: 27–43. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kösters, Walther
1993 Ökologische Zivilisierung: Verhalten in der Umweltkrise. Darmstadt, Germany: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.Google Scholar
Kothari, Ashish, Federico Demaria, and Alberto Acosta
2014 “Buen Vivir, degrowth and ecological Swaraj: Alternatives to sustainable development and the green economy.” Development 57, no. 3–4: 362–375. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kozinets, Robert, and Frank-Martin Belz
2011 “Social media for social change: Sustainability-based community in a sustainable world.” ACR North American Advances.Google Scholar
Krainer, Larissa, and Franzisca Weder
2011 “Editorial. Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation.” MedienJournal 351: 2–3. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krzyżanowski, Michał
2016 “Recontextualisation of Neoliberalism and the Increasingly Conceptual Nature of Discourse: Challenges for Critical Discourse Studies.” Discourse & Society 27, no. 3: 308–321. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2020 “Normalization and the discursive construction of “new” norms and “new” normality: Discourse in the paradoxes of populism and neoliberalism.” Social Semiotics 30, no. 4: 431–448. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lam, Jacqueline C. K., Richard M. Walker, and Peter Hills
2014 “Interdisciplinarity in sustainability studies: a review.” 221, no. 31: 158–176. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leon, Ramona-Diana
2013 “From the sustainable organization to sustainable knowledge-based organization.” Economic Insights-Trends & Challenges 65, no. 2: 63–73.Google Scholar
Manyozo, Linje
2012 Media, communication and development: Three approaches. New Delhi, India: SAGE.Google Scholar
Melkote, Srinivas R., and H. Leslie Steeves
2001 Communication for development in the Third World: Theory and practice for empowerment. 2nd ed. London, UK: SAGE. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meyers, Robert Allen
2012 Encyclopedia of sustainability science and technology. New York: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Michelsen, Gerd, and Jasmin Godemann
2011 “Nachhaltigkeit kommunizieren: eine konzeptionelle Rahmung.” MedienJournal 35, no. 1: 4-15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Milstein, Tema, and Alexis Pulos
2015 “Culture jam pedagogy and practice: Relocating culture by staying on one’s toes.” Communication, Culture & Critique 8, no. 3: 395–413. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Monni, Salvatore, and Massimo Pallottino
2015 “Beyond growth and development: Buen Vivir as an alternative to current paradigms.” International Journal of Environmental Policy and Decision Making 1, no. 3: 184–204. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mouffe, Chantal
2015 “Pluralismus, Dissens und demokratische Staatsbürgerschaft.” Diskurs-radikale Demokratie-Hegemonie, 41–54. Bielefeld, Germany: Transcript Verlag.Google Scholar
Murphy, Raymond
2012 “Sustainability: A wicked problem.” Sociologica 61, no. 21: 0–0. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Newig, Jens, Daniel Schulz, Daniel Fischer, Katharina Hetze, Norman Laws, Gesa Lüdecke, and Marco Rieckmann
2013 “Communication Regarding Sustainability: Conceptual Perspectives and Exploration of Societal Subsystems.” Sustainability 5, no. 7: 2976–2990. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Noske-Turner, Jessica
2023 “Communication for social changemaking: A “new spirit” in media and communication for development and social change?.” International Journal of Communication 171: 2944–2966.Google Scholar
Olawumi, Timothy O., and Daniel W. M. Chan
2018 “A scientometric review of global research on sustainability and sustainable development.” Journal of cleaner production 1831: 231–250. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pihkala, Panu
2020 “Anxiety and the ecological crisis: An analysis of eco-anxiety and climate anxiety.” Sustainability 12, no. 19: 7836. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rasche, Andreas, Mette Morsing, and Jeremy Moon
eds. 2017 Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategy, Communication, Governance. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reisch, Lucia
2006 “The cultivation of sustainability: the long way towards more sustainable consumption.” International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability 1, no. 2005/2006. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reyes, Antonio
2011 “Strategies of legitimization in political discourse: From words to actions.” Discourse & society 221, no. 61: 781–807. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Robertson, Margaret
2018 Communicating sustainability. Oxfordshire, UK: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Salzmann, Oliver, Aileen Ionescu-Somers, and Ulrich Steger
2005 “The business case for corporate sustainability: literature review and research options.” European Management Journal 23, no. 1: 27–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schäfer, Mike S., and Heinz Bonfadelli
2017 “Umwelt-und Klimawandelkommunikation.” Forschungsfeld Wissenschaftskommunikation, 315–338. Wiesbaden: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schäfer, Mike S., and James Painter
2021 “Climate journalism in a changing media ecosystem: Assessing the production of climate change-related news around the world.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 12, no. 1: e675. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schneider-Mayerson, Matthew, Abel Gustafson, Anthony Leiserowitz, Matthew H. Goldberg, Seth A. Rosenthal, and Matthew Ballew
2023 “Environmental literature as persuasion: an experimental test of the effects of reading climate fiction.” Environmental Communication 171, no. 11: 35–50. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schoeneborn, Dennis
2011 “Organization as communication: A Luhmannian perspective.” Management Communication Quarterly 25, no. 4: 663–689. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Servaes, Jan
2016 “How ‘sustainable’is development communication research?.” International Communication Gazette 78, no. 7: 701–710. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012 “Comparing development communication.” In The Handbook of Comparative Communication Research, edited by Frank Esser, and Thomas Hanitzsch, 64–80. Oxfordshire, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
1999 Communication for Development. One World, Multiple Cultures. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.Google Scholar
Servaes, Jan, and Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u
2023 “Introduction: The Need for an 18th Sustainable Development Goal – Communication for All.” In SDG18 Communication for All, Volume 1: The Missing Link between SDGs and Global Agendas, 1–24. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham: Springer International Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Skitka, Linda J., Brittany E. Hanson, G. Scott Morgan, and Daniel C. Wisneski
2021 “The psychology of moral conviction.” Annual Review of Psychology 721: 347–366. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Soini, Katriina, and Inger Birkeland
2014 “Exploring the scientific discourse on cultural sustainability.” Geoforum 511: 213–223. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Soini, Katriina, and Joost Dessein
2016 “Culture-Sustainability Relation: Towards a Conceptual Framework.” Sustainability 8, no. 2: 167. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Takahashi, Bruno, Julia Metag, Jagadish Thaker, and Suzannah Evans Comfort
2021 “Expanding Conceptualizations of Environmental Communication Research.” In The Handbook of International Trends in Environmental Communication, 3–13. London, UK: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Dianna
2009 “Normativity and normalization.” Foucault studies 71: 45–63. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thomas, Pradip Ninan
2012 Digital India: understanding information, communication and social change. New Delhi, India: SAGE Publications India. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thomas, Pradip Ninan, and Elske Van de Fliert
2014 Interrogating the theory and practice of communication for social change: The basis for a renewal. Berlin, Germany: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tufte, Thomas
2017 Communication and social change: A citizen perspective. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
UN
2022 “Sustainable Development Goals.” Accessed April 11, 2023. [URL]
Van de Fliert, Elske, and Ann R. Braun
2002 “Conceptualizing integrative, farmer participatory research for sustainable agriculture: From opportunities to impact.” Agriculture and Human Values 19, no. 1: 25–38. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Leeuwen, Theo
2007 “Legitimation in discourse and communication.” Discourse & Communication 1, no. 1: 91–112. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Norren, Dorine E.
2020 “The sustainable development goals viewed through gross national happiness, Ubuntu, and Buen Vivir.” International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics 20, no. 3: 431–458. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Voci, Denise
2022 “Logos, ethos, pathos, sustainabilitos? About the role of media companies in reaching sustainable development.” Sustainability 14, no. 5: 2591. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wilkins, Karin Gwinn, Thomas Tufte, and Rafael Obregon
2014 The handbook of development communication and social change. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weder, Franzisca
2021a “Sustainability as Master Frame of the Future? Potency and Limits of Sustainability as Normative Framework in Corporate, Political and NGO Communication.” In The sustainability communication reader: A reflective compendium, edited by Franzisca Weder, Larissa Krainer, and Matthias Karmasin, 103–119. Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer VS. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2021b “Strategic problematization of sustainability reframing dissent in strategic communication for transformation.” Public Relations Inquiry 11, no. 3: 337–360. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2022 “Kommunikative Kultivierung der Nachhaltigkeit. Öffentliche Kommunikation über Umwelt, Klima, nachhaltige Entwicklung und Transformation.” Communicatio Socialis 55, no. 2: 146–159. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weder, Franzisca, Sabine Einwiller, and Tobias Eberwein
2019 “Heading for new shores: Impact orientation of CSR communication and the need for communicative responsibility.” Corporate Communications: An International Journal 24, no. 2: 198–211. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weder, Franzisca, and Marte Eriksen
2023 CSR Communication and Cultures of Sustainability. Pressbook, UQ, Australia. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weder, Franzisca, Larissa Krainer, and Matthias Karmasin
2021 Sustainability Communication Reader. Wiesbaden: Springer.Google Scholar
Weder, Franzisca, Stefanie Mertl, Renate Hübner, Wilfried Elmenreich, and Robert Sposato
2022 “Re-Framing Sustainability in a Pandemic. Understanding Sustainability Attitudes, Behaviors, Visions and Responsibilities for a Post-Covid Future.” Journal of Sustainability Research 4, no. 2: e220006. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weder, Franzisca, and Tema Milstein
2021 “Revolutionaries needed! Environmental communication as a transformative discipline.” In The handbook of international trends in environmental communication, 407–419. Oxfordshire, UK: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weder, Franzisca, and Swastika Samanta
2021 “Advocacy for sustainability communication: Unseen potential of queer communicators in environmental, climate change and sustainability science.” Sustainability 13, no. 24: 13871. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wilkins, Karin Gwinn, Thomas Tufte, and Rafael Obregon
2014 The handbook of development communication and social change. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Williams, Raymond
1985 Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wodak, Ruth
2018 “Vom Rand in die Mitte–“Schamlose Normalisierung”.” Politische Vierteljahresschrift 59, no. 2: 323–335. DOI logoGoogle Scholar