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Motivations for Greener Living : Lessons from a South African Eco-Village

By means of a case study of a small, socially mixed, and ecologically oriented community in South Africa, known as the Lynedoch Eco-Village, this thesis sets out to identify motivations of people from different socio-economic backgrounds for joining such a community, and as a result live a more sustainable life. The case was studied during a minor field study (MFS) in the South African spring of 2015, during which sixteen eco-villagers were interviewed. The study discovers a wide range of motives reported by the respondents; some motives stemming from materialistic concerns and others being of a more idealistic nature. The socio-economic comparison of the respondents´ accounts is analysed using post-material theory and, interestingly, some accounts directly contradict the accounts that this influential theory would predict, with respondents from a lower socio-economic background reporting highly idealistic motives and views.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-279891
Date January 2016
CreatorsGyörgyfalvai Lindgren, Adam
PublisherUppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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