Leading change from the inside-out : negotiating the psycho-social in sustainability engagement

This study explores how sustainability practitioners understand and engage with the subjective psychological dimensions of `social mobilization'. At this particular moment, there exists scant research into precisely how these dimensions are being theorized and incorporated into the practice of social mobilization, despite a growing recognition that environmental engagement necessarily involves the `inner life' of people--the complex and interconnected psycho-social influences on who we are and how we understand our world. Using a narrative methodology, I interviewed seven sustainability facilitators about how they are currently making meaning of social change and how subjectivity is represented within this. The analysis presents four distinct ways that psycho-social dimensions are being negotiated and related to in engagement work. This research indicates that being able to engage with subjectivity is not so much a technical skill that can be learned, but rather a new way of making meaning of the world, others, and oneself.

Author dc:creator

• Klein, Kerri Ann

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Lertzman, Renee
• Kool, Richard
• Noble, Michael-Ann

• Environmental Engagement
• Psycho-Social
• Social Mobilization
• Sustainability Leadership

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10170/547

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.viurrspace.ca/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Anull%3A10170%2F547