Innovation and institutional change: the transition to a sustainable ...

Theoretical perspectives 37
issues in industrial societies (Mol, 1995: 77). His focus is on the distribution
of and shifts in power and resources, and on formal and informal rules as
structuring principles. Formal rules are economic rules on for example
profits, ownership, patents, liability, planning, investment decisions. Equally
relevant are informal rules on trust, negotiations, cooperation, etc. Rules can
change due to environmental considerations as for example environmental
quality of products becomes part of the demand structure, by extending
liability with environmental liability, by taking environmental management
standards into account when judging good entrepreneurship (Mol, 1995: 78).
The societal networks depict the relations between industry and civil society.
Examples of organisations in the societal network are labour organisations,
consumer organisations, environmental organisation and local citizens
groups. The focus is on how interactions are shaped (direct/indirect
interaction) and changing. Further focus is on rules and resources applied in
societal networks that primarily centre around legitimisation and
signification of industries’ production and products. Ecological
modernisation theory hypothesises strategies and ideologies of
environmental organisation developing towards more direct interactions with
industry and support for environmental progressive entrepreneurs, while
challenging the laggards. Industry will increase negotiations and private
agreements with environmental NGOs on environmental reform (Mol, 1995:
83).
Van Vliet (2002) analyses environment-induced change in network bound
systems of provision and consumption, with case studies of electricity and
water provision. His focus is on social practices and the role of citizensconsumers
in order to gain insight in the relationship between action and
structure, inspired by Giddens’ (1984) structuration theory. Important is the
concept of duality of structure in which on the one hand actors are
constrained in their actions to draw on existing rules and resources and
structures are thus media enabling human actions, and on the other these
structures are confirmed and reinforced by human action, and are thus also
outcome of it (Van Vliet, 2002: 12). These ideas have been conceptualised
earlier by Spaargaren as shown in Figure 2.3.