TY - JOUR

T1 - Modeling normativity in sustainability

T2 - a comparison of the sustainable development goals, the Paris agreement, and the papal encyclical

AU - Schmieg, Gregor

AU - Meyer, Esther

AU - Schrickel, Isabell

AU - Herberg, Jeremias

AU - Caniglia, Guido

AU - Vilsmaier, Ulli

AU - Laubichler, Manfred

AU - Hörl, Erich

AU - Lang, Daniel

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgement This research has been founded by the Volk-swagenstiftung under the program ‘‘Science and Scholarship for Sustainable Development’’. Publisher Copyright: © 2017, The Author(s).

PY - 2018/5/1

Y1 - 2018/5/1

N2 - The idea of sustainability is intrinsically nor-mative. Thus, understanding the role of normativity in sustainability discourses is crucial for further developing sustainability science. In this article, we analyze three important documents that aim to advance sustainability and explore how they organize norms in relation to sustain-ability. The three documents are: the Pope's Encyclical Laudato Si', the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. We show that understanding the role of different types of norms in the three documents can help understand normative features of both scientific and non-scientific sustainability discourses. We present the diverse system of norms in a model that interrelates three different levels: macro, meso, and micro. Our model highlights how several processes affect the normative orientation of nations and societies at the meso-level in different ways. For instance, individual ethical norms at the micro-level, such as personal responsibility, may help decelerate unsustainable consumerism at the aggregate meso-level. We also show that techno-scientific norms at the macro-level representing global indicators for sustainability may accelerate innovations. We suggest that our model can help better organize normative features of sustainability dis-courses and, therefore, to contribute to the further devel-opment of sustainability science.

AB - The idea of sustainability is intrinsically nor-mative. Thus, understanding the role of normativity in sustainability discourses is crucial for further developing sustainability science. In this article, we analyze three important documents that aim to advance sustainability and explore how they organize norms in relation to sustain-ability. The three documents are: the Pope's Encyclical Laudato Si', the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. We show that understanding the role of different types of norms in the three documents can help understand normative features of both scientific and non-scientific sustainability discourses. We present the diverse system of norms in a model that interrelates three different levels: macro, meso, and micro. Our model highlights how several processes affect the normative orientation of nations and societies at the meso-level in different ways. For instance, individual ethical norms at the micro-level, such as personal responsibility, may help decelerate unsustainable consumerism at the aggregate meso-level. We also show that techno-scientific norms at the macro-level representing global indicators for sustainability may accelerate innovations. We suggest that our model can help better organize normative features of sustainability dis-courses and, therefore, to contribute to the further devel-opment of sustainability science.

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Transdisciplinary studies

KW - Cultural Informatics

KW - Digital media

KW - Media and communication studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85032510386&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s11625-017-0504-7

DO - 10.1007/s11625-017-0504-7

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 30147791

VL - 13

SP - 785

EP - 796

JO - Sustainability Science

JF - Sustainability Science

SN - 1862-4065

IS - 3

ER -