collective behaviour, values, sustainability, Internet and communication technologies

Abstract: The emergence of the potential for generating collective behaviour through the application of digital technologies has given rise to differing approaches to leverage this phenomenon for sustainability, such as collective awareness, collective intelligence and collective contagion. In some cases, collective behaviour is leveraged through digital technologies to create or complement transformational change. In other cases, digital technologies leverage collective behaviour to model and expand prevailing systems of provision, consumption, social power and wealth, and political, social and economic structures. This paper will argue that the value of collective behaviour for a more sustainable world rests largely with the values driving the approach to achieve collective behaviour, and that an appreciation for sustainable and equitable degrowth is key. A conceptual framework will be discussed which will ground the various approaches to generate collective behaviour, their histories, practices and results. It will then examine the degree to which these approaches may contribute towards a more sustainable world and how they may elicit transformational change towards sustainable and equitable degrowth.