Genealogies of Sustainable Development? Life Stories of Frugal, Inventive, and Creative Women

Abstract

In my article, I put forward the thesis that today's consumer attitudes promoted and practiced as the pursuit of sustainable development have their genealogy in the everyday life of Polish women and their savings and inventiveness resulting from living conditions in a socialist state. Polish women's life stories under communism, which I conducted as a part of international research project, contain a kind of instructions on how to use modest resources frugally, inventively, and creatively to ensure a decent life for yourself and your family. What's more, many resource-saving practices developed by our generational grandmothers and mothers are experiencing a renaissance, such as the production of organic food at home or the re-circulation and remaking of second-hand clothes. So, when it comes to sustainable development, old everyday practices of saving resources through their ingenious and creative use are returning to favor. With the awareness of contemporary civilization threats, their usefulness may once again turn out to be salutary for humanity.

Citation

Skórzyńska, I. (2022), "Genealogies of Sustainable Development? Life Stories of Frugal, Inventive, and Creative Women", Aladuwaka, S., Wejnert, B. and Alagan, R. (Ed.) Systemic Inequality, Sustainability and COVID-19 (Research in Political Sociology, Vol. 29), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 237-252. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0895-993520220000029018