With colleagues I’ve been researching the not-so-boring world of laundry habits and overwashing for a well-known eco-friendly laundry detergent brand.
Specifically, I’m exploring the social, cultural, and psychological factors that influence our laundry habits.
Most interesting bit so far has been discovering the work of Prof. Elizabeth Shove who has spent a lot of time looking at everyday routines like laundry.
If you want to understand routines / habits then Shove’s social practice theory (STP) lens is worth a rummage.
A good thing STP does is shift analysis from individuals and their attitudes, to the shared, collective elements that shape everyday routines like, driving, laundry, skateboarding.
STP folks argue that to achieve change on a scale needed to tackle environmental challenges we face, looking at practices is going to move the needle more than nudging individuals, or technological fixes.
As Eric Klint puts it, an example SPT type challenge, might be instead of thinking “how do we get people to wash less?” and “how do we do it in a more environmentally friendly way?” we should be asking “how do we get people to generate less laundry, specifically laundry that needs to be cleaned by a washing machine?“.
Maybe we need to think more about how to shift cultural conventions so that we can move away from cleanliness ideals that are driving overly intensive washing habits.