Sustainability Transitions in New Zealand: Mainstreaming Alternative Food Values

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the penetration of sustainable foods into mainstream retailing in New Zealand. The research draws on notions of sustainability transitions, which it frames as a movement rather than a destination, and as a relational problem shaped by exogenous and endogenous forces. The research explores the convergence of transition theory and convention theory. The empirical work comprises a mix of extended semi-formal interviews with those involved in the production and distribution of three indicative product-case studies of ‘sustainable’ foods sold at supermarkets, documentary analysis of the companies involved and focus group sessions with consumers of such foods. These data sources provide a platform for analysing how transactions take place in fields of contested values as sustainable products enter mainstream market channels. In mainstream urban food provisioning, supermarkets remain the problematic space where the values and interests of consumers and upstream suppliers of foods collide. A cross-case analysis of two supermarket chains, grounded on distinct levels of ethical commitments and mainstream penetration, reveals two underlying mechanisms that underpin both business models. The focus group sessions explore how mainstream consumers built meanings and understandings of sustainable foods in their micro-level of performances and negotiations. Price and efficiency remain prominent but challenged by more nuanced values embedded in diverse lifestyle choices. The thesis argues that concerns with transitions need to pay greater attention to the spaces in which values collide, which it theorises as consumption junctions. It suggests that focusing attention on the various sites of transaction and mediation of values in consumption junctions offers opportunities to enable sustainability transitions. In particular, it argues for the potential of experimental initiatives as a basis for encouraging the penetration of alternative food values into mainstream retailing. The thesis argues for the centrality of place in the articulation of different values and orders of worth in sustainability transitions, suggesting that bringing convention theory into dialogue with transitions thinking provides an opportunity to capture the significance of place as a configuration of relational agency