Sustainability Discourses, Symbolic Interactionism and Farm Development Strategies: Working paper of a PHD research

This working paper will present the outline of the PHD-research, which I will undertake the next 4 years. The thesis starts from the observation that different actors and institutions use their own definition of sustainability in their own favor; and that many scholars are pointing on the importance of the social aspects of sustainability and the difficulties to operationalize this concept. The main goals of the thesis are to get insight in the social power of actors and institutions on (1) defining and operationalizing the concept of ‘social sustainability’ and (2) choices concerning farm development strategies; and (3) the importance of the used concept of social sustainability in farm development strategies. Using discourse analysis the discursive practices of the sustainability concept, especially ‘social sustainability’, in the agricultural sector will be investigated. The discourse’s inner power relations have to be uncovered to get a clear view on how farmers definitions of social sustainability are constructed. By participative observations and in-depth interviews in 6 mixed farms, the role of actors and institutions, and the role of the used concept of social sustainability on farm development will be examined. The cases consist of 6 mixed farms, as they do not (yet) have made a clear choice between large-scale/intensive industrial agriculture and small-scale alternative farming strategies. Participative observations will be held on these farms during take-over processes, as taking over a farm often involves the development of a long-term farming strategy.