ABSTRACT
This chapter considers various initiatives through the academic literature on different forms of collective action. The chapter begins by discussing the history of interest in sustainability and collective action. It proceeds by looking at three different forms of collective action on sustainable consumption: at the community, economy, and household levels. The chapter offers a critique of these initiatives, in order to show how careful we must be about making assumptions. Generally speaking, we have a tendency to think 'collective/community/family = good', perhaps also 'individualistic = bad'. The chapter argues that, the whole picture is not so clear-cut. Writers on sustainable consumption do not consistently use the terms 'participation' or 'collective action', but often assume that people need to make changes in their daily lives for the sake of the common good. The chapter also explores how ideas of collective action and consumption have been brought together in this field.
