The Path to Sufficiency – A Qualitative Study on Sufficiency-Oriented Lifestyles in Switzerland

Abstract

This article is based on the results of a qualitative research study on sufficiency-oriented lifestyles in Switzerland. The study was published as a bachelor's thesis as part of a two-year research internship at the Department of Sociology, Social Work and Social Policy at the University of Fribourg. The study deals with sufficiency-oriented people from the German-speaking part of Switzerland. On the basis of 16 semi-structured guideline interviews, the questions of what sufficiency-oriented lifestyles look like, how they came about, and what opportunities and challenges sufficiency-oriented lifestyles bring with them were investigated. The concept of sufficiency appears primarily in connection with environmental policy discourses and has become increasingly popular in recent years. Empirical evidence shows, however, that sufficiency-oriented people still form a niche and cannot be found in the general population. The inhibiting and promoting factors this niche population is confronted with in everyday life are the focus of the research. Based on the results of the qualitative guided interviews, an empirically founded typology focusing on the promoting factors of sufficiency-oriented lifestyles was created. The three constructed types highlight the decisive driving forces for a sufficiency-oriented lifestyle and have the following names: the optimistic reflective, the sensitive post-materialists, and the ecologically influenced.