Competing insulation practices in a capitalist economy
(2017) 13th Conference of the European Sociological Association — Location: Athens (29.August.2017)
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- Abstract
- This contribution is intended to explore the potentialities of social practice theories for presenting and discussing the description of ‘real-world’ practices performed or not in the retrofit market, either by professionals and by contractors, by homeowners, and by administrative agents and by policy makers. This qualitative research is mainly focused on the insulation market and its evolution in recent years in Wallonia. The empirical material analysed here consists of in-depth interviews with professionals and contractors. Results of the analysis point to several discordances: between contractors in their definition and corresponding practice about what ‘correct’ insulation is; between institutionalised rules (such as the energy performance certificate) and their implementation. These gaps constrain the practices of the professionals and of the homeowners and contribute to explaining how energy-performance gaps are socially constructed.
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Citations
Bartiaux, F. (2017). Competing insulation practices in a capitalist economy. 13th Conference of the European Sociological Association, Athens. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/49446