Work in sustainability crisis: The ecological spirit of capitalism and the spectre of sleepwalking - UTU Research Portal

A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Work in sustainability crisis: The ecological spirit of capitalism and the spectre of sleepwalking

Authors: Salmenniemi, Suvi

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Publication year: 2025

Journal: European Journal of Cultural Studies

ISSN: 1367-5494

eISSN: 1460-3551

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494251395891

Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: Open Access

Publication channel's open availability : Partially Open Access publication channel

Web address : https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494251395891

Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/506064767

Abstract

The structures and meanings of work are a central question in the sustainability crisis. However, scholars have recently voiced concerns about the limited amount of research on those topics. In responding to this lacuna, this article explores how sustainability professionals in business organisations make sense of work and its transformation towards sustainability, how sustainability demands are seen as challenging existing business and management practices, and what kinds of conflicts this gives rise to. The article analyses interviews conducted at companies involved in the Climate Leadership Coalition in Finland and identifies four discourses through which work and sustainability are articulated: trailblazing, experimentation, passion and sleepwalking. The first three discourses seek to reconcile the contradiction between economic and ecological interests with the `ecological spirit of capitalism', which helps professionals legitimate their actions and negotiate the tension between sustainability and a profit orientation. The fourth discourse of sleepwalking challenges the optimistic visions of the other three. It proposes that the ecologisation of work would require a more transformative approach that neither companies nor societies seem prepared to adopt. The spectre of sleepwalking haunts the ecological spirit of capitalism and serves as a reminder of its potential fragility.

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salmenniemi-2025-work-in-sustainability-crisis-the-ecological-spirit-of-capitalism-and-the-spectre-of-sleepwalking.pdf

Funding information in the publication:
This article has been supported by the Finnish Work Environment Fund (grant number 220280).