Everyday lives

Understanding how everyday practices have formed, and how they vary across social groups, countries and cultures, is critical for encouraging sustainable consumption.

Our everyday lives consist of social practices.

Some of these practices, such as the heating of homes and the running of water, are quite ordinary and routine. Others, however, are more conspicuous and happen less frequently – such as buying a car or renovating a home.

People consume goods and services to engage in many different social practices that affect the volumes and forms of consumption infiltrating our everyday lives.

Our aims

Our research examines the ways in which everyday lives and social practices have come to take their particular form.

We explore the infrastructures, institutions, technologies and cultural meanings that make practices significant to people.