Social habitus and climate change: Rethinking demand-side mitigation through Eliasian figurational sociology

This article explores the analytical potential of Norbert Elias’s notion of social habitus for understanding resistance and change in everyday practices relevant to demand-side climate mitigation. It unfolds in two steps. First, it revisits the concept of social habitus, emphasizing its value for interpreting the emotional and figurational dimensions of social practices. Second, it applies this theoretical lens to focus group data collected in Italy to examine how emotions, identity, and social interdependencies sustain high-carbon habits despite widespread environmental awareness. By integrating theoretical and empirical analysis, the paper shows how the habitus can serve as a key interpretive tool for understanding the emotional foundations of resistance to behavioral change.