Tom Crompton and Tim Kasser: Identity Campaigning

by P&P

September 30, 2009 05:23AM

Working with the World Wildlife Fund Strategies for Change project, Tom Crompton and Tim Kasser, introduce the idea of identity campaigning in a short book called, "Meeting Environmental Challenges: The Role of Human Identity. (pdf)"

[W]e suggest that there are certain aspects of the human psyche that create proclivities towards unsustainable behaviour. In this book, we focus on three specific aspects of human identity. We will argue that these proclivities are often reinforced, or enabled, by social norms and structures, by the government policies that shape these, and even sometimes by the actions of environmental organisations themselves. It seems to us that today’s environmentalism by and large either retreats from confronting these aspects of identity, choosing to ignore them, or alternatively attempts to ‘work with’ them, trying to co-opt them to serve environmental purposes. Unfortunately, as we shall see, co-opting them risks making these environmentally problematic aspects of identity even more prevalent. ...

The first step in this process, of course, is to examine more publicly how certain aspects of human identity are associated with environmental problems; Part I of this book begins this process. The second step is to identify strategies to mitigate the extent to which these aspects of human identity are encouraged, and to promote alternative aspects that are not so damaging; Part II of this book undertakes that examination and proposes a number of new approaches, strategies, and perspectives on environmental campaigning. Finally, in Part III we highlight some of the opportunities that this approach to environmental campaigning offers, and the grounds for optimism that it can be of crucial importance in supplementing, modifying, or replacing current campaign strategies. In particular, we develop a case for extending identity campaigning to address concerns and challenges beyond environmentalism, and point to the opportunities for new and concerted approaches to joint campaigning across a diverse range of third-sector organisations.