Sustainable development, consumption and citizenship: a study on the (dis)articulation of the communication of civil society organizations, government and companies

Abstract

The consumption in contemporary plays different functions and involves multiple references as a social construction, but in the current patterns, is untenable, both from the environmental perspective as the construction of rights and citizenship. To understand the challenges of building actions and policies that renew consumer practices, this article discusses the answers to the dilemmas of consumption are built by civil society actors, state and market. Sustainable consumption becomes one of the possibilities of the impacts of consumption, because it involves changes in attitude coupled with the need for transformation of the attitudes and values of citizens. Although not yet observed the predominance of a new civilization model capable of overcoming the dilemmas of consumer society, there are alternatives to promote sustainability. This effort would suggest connections between different groups, whether government, civil society and market, to meet the demands of the population and adopt good practices of sustainable production and consumption, through political action and citizenship. In empirical research, qualitative approach with interviews and descriptive analysis, it was noted that communication for the construction of discourses and practices politically correct for the consumption by the actors researched to make it sustainable does not always explain the complex relationship that involves the environment in public sphere. Very present in the business reports, sustainable development is not perceived in everyday organizational practice. In this context, is different dramas unfold and intrigues of social and environmental citizenship, which may give new meaning to the struggles in the field of environmental consumption, as well as cover up the traps that a speech environmentally correct, but politically weak.