subsistence and sustainability

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2014 34: 8 originally published online 26 August 2013Journal of MacromarketingMadhu Viswanathan, Kiju Jung, Srinivas Venugopal, Ishva Minefee and In Woo Jung

Consumption, Conservation, and the EnvironmentSubsistence and Sustainability: From Micro-Level Behavioral Insights to Macro-Level Implications on

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Article

Subsistence and Sustainability: FromMicro-Level Behavioral Insights toMacro-Level Implications on Consumption,Conservation, and the Environment

Madhu Viswanathan1, Kiju Jung1, Srinivas Venugopal1,Ishva Minefee1, and In Woo Jung1

AbstractThe objective of this article is to develop micro-level behavioral insights at the intersection of poverty and the environment andderive macro-marketing implications. This micro-level behavioral perspective encompasses psychological and socio-culturalphenomena and emphasizes consumption and conservation. Construing the environment in a broad sense to encompass livingcircumstances, we conducted interviews to uncover the distinctive nature of environmental issues in subsistence marketplaces. Ourfindings emphasize the importance of different levels of spatial and psychological distance as well as a number of coping strategies thatreflect individuals and communities sustaining themselves through survival, relatedness, and growth. We link distances and coping toefficacy and motivation to act, and derive implications for macro-level issues in marketing management, and public policy.

Keywordssubsistence, sustainability, poverty, environment, macromarketing

Introduction

Whereas there are many challenges in the 21st century, if the

environmental challenge is not solved, nothing else may

matter. This is the sobering conclusion from many sources about

the negative impact of the industrial era on the larger ecology

(D’Souza and Peretiatko 2002; World Bank 1992). From a con-

sumption perspective, continued increases in population, peak-

ing production levels of non-renewable energy, and rising

shortages in food and water are just some of the portents of

things to come. From an environmental perspective, the negative

impact of carbon emissions through global warming and rising

sea levels, pollution, and deforestation points to disastrous global

consequences. Environmental problems are inextricably linked

to the issue of global poverty, with the poor being disproportio-

nately vulnerable to environmental problems and disasters.

Rapid industrial development in affluent contexts has also had

a disproportionate impact on environmental problems in con-

texts of poverty (Shrivastava and Hart 1995). Thus, those with

the smallest footprint bear a disproportionate burden of environ-

mental problems at a global level (Thomas and Twyman 2005).

The 1992 World Development Report on Development and the

Environment asserts that the environment problem is in essence

a poverty problem (Peet and Watts 1993; World Bank 1992).

Perspectives on this topic range from poverty causing environ-

mental degradation owing to survival pressures (Duraiappah

1998) to nurturing of environmental resources through adaptive

strategies evolved by the poor (Scherr 2000).

The objective of this study is to develop micro-level beha-

vioral understanding of poverty and the environment with an

emphasis on consumption and conservation and a view to

deriving macromarketing implications. The arena of poverty

and the environment has been studied from macro levels as

well as micro household levels, covering topics such as the use

of natural resources in rural settings (Agarwal 1989; Dasgupta

et al. 2005). However, these studies do not focus on developing

a deep understanding of the psychological and socio-cultural

underpinnings of observed consumption behaviors. The mar-

keting literature has focused separately on both environmental

sustainability (e.g., sustainable consumption; Kilbourne 2010)

and poverty (e.g., subsistence marketplaces; Viswanathan

et al. 2009). However, the intersection of poverty and the envi-

ronment has not been focused on from a marketing perspective,

such as in examining consumption and conservation (i.e. the

focus of this article), or marketplace interactions as they relate

to environmental issues. Specifically, we examine the micro-

level behavioral aspects of surviving and subsisting in local

environments, covering such topics as challenges and coping.

1University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

Corresponding Author:

Madhu Viswanathan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 183 Wohlers

Hall, 1206 South Sixth St., Champaign, IL 61820, USA.

Email: [email protected]

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Psychological and socio-cultural understanding at the micro-

level provides a starting point to derive macro-level implica-

tions. Such an approach is in keeping with the subsistence

marketplaces approach and literature (Viswanathan and Rosa

2007), which adopts a bottom-up orientation, starting with gen-

erating rich understanding of individuals, communities and the

socio-cultural contexts of marketplaces in poverty. We also use

the term, environment, in a broad sense rather than addressing

specific environmental issues, to encompass living circum-

stances ranging from the immediate day-to-day living as well

as more societal and global level issues from the perspective

of the subsistence individual. Our focus is particularly relevant

in the macromarketing area, where sustainability and poverty

represent broad topics (see Kilbourne 2010; Kotler, Roberto, and

Leisner 2006) that have been examined at a macro level. By

using micro-level insights into sustainability and deriving impli-

cations for macromarketing, we provide a different perspective.

Given the bottom-up orientation of the study, a number of

questions at the intersection of subsistence and sustainability

are germane. What is the nature of environmental issues in

subsistence when compared to resource-rich settings? How

do subsistence consumers cope with environmental issues and

what do they strive to sustain in doing so? Using these broad

questions as a starting point, in this research, we examine the

interconnections between subsistence marketplaces and the

environment. A series of interviews reflect the bottom-up

approach adopted. The findings cover the distinctive nature

of environmental issues in subsistence contexts in terms of

being immediate (household), near (local), moderate (society)

or farthest (global) in distance both physically and psychologi-

cally. A number of coping strategies emerge beyond reducing

and reusing such as making and foregoing. These strategies

reflect individuals sustaining themselves through survival,

relatedness, and growth. We develop propositions that link dis-

tances and coping to efficacy and motivation to act, and derive

implications for macromarketing.

Following a review of the literature, we discuss the method

and findings of our study. Finally, we interpret the findings using

theoretical lenses and derive implications for macromarketing.

Literature Review

Following a discussion of the literature on sustainability in

marketing, we review the literature on poverty and market-

places, and finally, the broader literature outside of marketing

on poverty and the environment. Sustainability refers to

‘‘development that meets the needs of the present without com-

promising the ability of future generations to meet their own

needs’’ (World Commission on Environment and Development

1987), covering topics ranging from climate change to human

rights (Chabowski, Mena, and Gonzalez-Padron 2011). Sus-

tainability has been studied in marketing (Chabowski, Mena,

and Gonzalez-Padron 2011), and recent calls for more research

(e.g. Kilbourne 2010) reflect its growing importance.

Research has ranged from potential theoretical lenses that

can be used (Connelly, Ketchen, and Slater 2011) to factors that

lead to green consumer behavior, different approaches to seg-

mentation, and groups of individuals based on their approach

to sustainable consumption (McDonald et al. 2012), as well

as deep understanding of relevant groups such as the voluntary

simplicity movement. The literature covers topics from supply

chain management (Closs, Speier, and Meacham 2011) to

modeling cross-country comparisons of the implications of

sustainability (Huang and Rust 2011). The macromarketing

literature has covered such issues as moving from consumer-

ism/consumption to sustainability (Assadourian 2010; Schaefer

and Crane 2005), and the need for organizations to adopt a

sustainable market orientation (Mitchell, Wooliscroft, and

Higham 2010; Viswanathan et al. 2009).

The need for sustainable consumption is a central part of the

conversation in the marketing literature. For example, Thogersen

(2010) discusses the causes of unsustainable consumption

patterns in organic food production, particularly in a European

context. Likewise, scholars critique the ‘‘dark side’’ of consump-

tion and call for systemic policy changes to curb overconsump-

tion (e.g. Schaefer and Crane 2005; Varey 2010). Moreover, in

order to understand ‘‘sustainable consumption’’ Dolan (2002)

argues that scholars must focus on consumption practices

between individuals. Strizhakova and Coulter (2013) show how

a global cultural identity moderates the relationship between

materialism and environmentally friendly tendencies. From an

organizational perspective, topics such as product development

(e.g. Luchs et al. 2010) and competitive advantage through

sustainability have been studied (Kumar et al. 2011; Mitchell,

Wooliscroft, and Higham 2010). Sheth, Sethia, and Srinivas

(2011) present a framework for a customer-centric approach to

sustainability and introduce the concept of mindful consumption.

This brief overview of articles highlights that, although the

marketing discipline specializes in spanning micro to macro

level perspectives, a clear gap in the sustainability literature

in marketing is the need to understand the intersection of

poverty and the environment as it relates to such topics as con-

sumption and conservation, and marketplace interactions. Our

focus here is on the former topic.

Poverty and Micro-Level Behavior

A stream of research on subsistence marketplaces has adopted a

bottom-up micro-level behavioral perspective. It has examined

underlying variables that affect how the poor interact with the

marketplace, specifically focusing on thinking styles, emotional

factors, and social relationships (Viswanathan, Gajendiran, and

Venkatesan 2008). Unpacking poverty into individual level

constraints such as low literacy, this research suggests that

individuals living in subsistence marketplaces display unique

cognitive tendencies arising out of low literacy and accentuated

by low income that limit them to the here and now (Viswanathan

2011; Viswanathan, Rosa, and Harris 2005). Stemming from dif-

ficulties with abstract ideas, individuals are concrete in their

thinking in the following ways. First, individuals who subsist use

information at a tangible level rather than interpreting or com-

bining it to reach more abstract conclusions (e.g., depending

Viswanathan et al. 9



on price of a product rather than combining it with other

attributes to assess value of an exchange; interpreting health and

nutrition in concrete terms such as not going to the hospital).

Second, such individuals focus on the ‘‘what’’ and the ‘‘how’’

rather than the ‘‘why’’ in relatively abstract realms (i.e., involv-

ing very different levels of abstraction, e.g., what business to run

and how to do so in the here and now rather than why start a spe-

cific business or why run it a particular way; focusing on symp-

toms of health condition rather than underlying causes). This

tendency suggests a focus on the immediate in terms of environ-

mental issues. Envisioning issues beyond the immediate, con-

crete reality or across time requires abstracting across spatial

and temporal dimensions, which may be difficult to do. The

literature has noted that the tendency toward concrete thinking

is accentuated by low income and the need to meet immediate

needs (Viswanathan 2011). Another tendency is pictographic

thinking, reflecting a comfort level with what is perceived

through the senses that precedes the acquisition of literacy

(e.g., pattern matching letters of brand names or bus numbers;

even adding and subtracting by visualizing currency bills) (Vis-

wanathan, Rosa, and Harris 2005).

Also apparent from this research is the emotional toll that

poverty takes and how self-esteem is paramount in marketplace

encounters, particularly for those individuals with low levels of

literacy (Adkins and Ozanne 2005; Viswanathan, Gajendiran,

and Venkatesan 2008; Viswanathan, Rosa, and Harris 2005).

Along with how individuals think, how they feel is another

important consideration as self-esteem and basic dignity are

often central to their existence and to their interactions with the

marketplace. Stigma attached to low literacy is an important

driver of apprehensiveness and even fear in marketplace

interactions.

Subsistence consumer and entrepreneurs interact in one-to-

one interactional marketplaces where exchanges are fluid, buy-

ers and sellers are generally responsive, with a constant demand

from consumers for customization (Viswanathan et al. 2012).

Enduring relationships are sought as a way to multiply value

in exchanges and lower uncertainty, with the social and eco-

nomic being blurred. The larger context where exchanges and

relationships play out is characterized by pervasive oral commu-

nications and interdependence. Along with such practices as

reusing and reducing usage, individuals may have the option

of buying, the resourcefulness of making, or the resilience of

foregoing (Viswanathan at al. 2009).

As is evident from this discussion and from previous study,

formal regulatory institutions are generally absent in subsis-

tence contexts (Khanna and Palepu 2010; Rivera-Santos,

Rufin, and Kolk 2012). Although regulatory institutions allow

for enforceability of laws and regulations, provide legal protec-

tion, and support economic activities, these institutions remain

weak within marketplaces (Rivera-Santos, Rufin, and Kolk

2012). Thus, consumers and entrepreneurs in subsistence

contexts rely on informal institutions (e.g. culture and norms)

to dictate behaviors in the realm of consumption and conserva-

tion. For example, if community members have used traditional

methods to preserve the environment for several generations, it

is likely that such normative practices will continue (i.e. be

passed on to children) in the absence of formal laws that dictate

the preservation of the environment.

In summary, the subsistence marketplaces literature empha-

sizes the importance of the immediacy in space, time, and

people that characterizes the one-to-one interactional market-

place and the cognitive constraints that lead to a focus on the

here and now. Although this literature has had a focus at the

micro-level, the intersection of subsistence marketplaces and

the local environment has not been addressed. In summary, our

literature review highlights the need to study the intersection of

subsistence marketplaces and the environment, through micro-

level behavior.

Poverty and the Environment

Environments in poverty contexts are disproportionately at risk

due to planetary destabilization. A majority of the poor in

developing regions of Asia and Africa live in ecologically fra-

gile areas (Leach and Mearns 1991). At a broad level, debates

center on the need for eradicating poverty before addressing

environmental problems versus the role of environmental

degradation in causing poverty. The centrality of natural

resources of poverty contexts have been studied in terms of

deforestation, access to water and sanitation, health-related

outcomes, and a variety of other topics (Angelsen and Kaimo-

witz 1999; Chaplin 1999; McMichael 2000). The relationship

between poverty and the environment is very complex with a

range of moderating factors at different levels of society. For

example, Chaplin (1999) argues that the ability of the Indian

middle class to buffer themselves against risks of poor sanitation

leads to less political pressure from them for sanitary reform, and

an inordinately high impact on the vulnerable poor. Angelsen

and Kaimowitz (1999) review and synthesize more than 140

economic models and note that little empirical evidence sup-

ports a relationship between poverty and deforestation (see

also Duraiappah 1998). Gray and Moseley (2005) maintain

that several of the macro perspectives on the environment-

poverty relationship assume the Malthusian view of the poor

being myopic in their psychological outlook. They review

empirical evidence from countries such as Sudan, Nigeria,

Ethiopia, and Ghana where the poor make sacrifices in the

present to enhance security in the future. The authors question

the efficacy of macro perspectives based on behavioral foun-

dations that are empirically inconsistent with the realities of

the poor, highlighting the need for a more nuanced and

well-rooted psychological foundation.

The literature on sustainability and poverty in marketing as

well as the broader literature on poverty and the environment

highlight the need for a micro-level focus on the intersection

of poverty and the environment from a marketing perspective,

such as through examining consumption and conservation, and

marketplace interactions as they relate to environmental issues.

Whereas a top-down view has dominated the literature over

the last twenty years, we offer a ‘‘bottom-up’’ view of sustain-

ability from the perspectives of low-income individuals, with

10 Journal of Macromarketing 34(1)



an emphasis on consumption and conservation. By deriving

macro-level implications from micro-level insights, we aim

to integrate micro and macro level approaches to sustainability.

We describe the method for our study in the next section.

Method

This study aimed to generate rich descriptions of the context

and lived experiences of low-income individuals with respect

to the environment, which were then used as a basis to distill

several insights. Management scholars (Dyer and Wilkins

1991) have highlighted the importance of such deep descrip-

tions in developing theory that is well rooted in people’s reali-

ties. Such grounded theory has been recommended for research

in novel settings as a methodological approach to analyze and

derive theoretical insights from the data (Corbin and Strauss

2007; Goulding 1998). Our approach emphasized unstructured

interviews using broad topics and questions without specific

guidance from substantive aspects of relevant literature. Where

relevant, the insights that emerged are placed in the context of

the extant literature. Discussion in terms of specific theory was

the final step through the discovery process of writing the paper.

The data were collected in an urban low-income community

in Chennai, South India and a rural farming community in Kan-

chipuram district, South India. Chennai is the sixth most popu-

lous city in India with a population of around 4.7 million.

Chennai also has the fourth highest population of slum dwellers

in India, estimated at 820,000. Kanchipuram district is largely

agrarian with close to half its population engaged in agricul-

ture. Paddy rice and groundnuts are the major crops cultivated

in this region. Tamil is the native language in both Chennai and

Kanchipuram district. The urban data and rural data were col-

lected in two phases of research, each lasting from a few weeks

to a few months.

In-depth interviews were employed for gathering data, as

they are suitable for obtaining detailed accounts of the infor-

mant’s perspectives, experiences, or situation, in their own

voices (Taylor and Bogdan 1998). In-depth interviews are also

suitable because of the low-literacy levels of our informants

and the prevailing oral traditions in the local context (Viswa-

nathan et al. 2012). Interviews began at a concrete level in

terms of problems people face with their immediate environ-

ment, how their local environment affects them, and how they

affect their own local environment, and then moved to broader

issues of how individuals affect nature and in turn are affected

by nature. Terms such as global warming and climate change

were reserved for the end of the interview, given their abstract

nature and the need to discern participants’ perceptions in an

open-ended way. Interviews were conducted with 14 infor-

mants (ten urban, four rural). We employed purposive sam-

pling in choosing rural and urban respondents in order to

capture the differences in experiences between the urban and

rural poor. The informants were in the age group of 35-48 years

and their literacy levels ranged from 5th grade to bachelor’s

degree. Sample informants included eight males and six

females. Detailed informant information is presented in

Table 1. The interviews lasted for half an hour to forty-five

minutes. At the end of each interview, informants were given

a small monetary compensation for their time. The first author

and research associates who speak the local language and are

from the same cultural context conducted the urban interviews.

The third author who is a native speaker of Tamil (local lan-

guage) conducted the rural interviews. The interviews were

recorded, transcribed into Tamil and then translated. Member

checks were used during data collection to ensure factual con-

sistencies and interpretations.

The interviews were conducted specifically to examine the

issue of sustainability in subsistence contexts. The urban inter-

views were conducted in the first phase of data collection for

the project. Rural interviews were conducted as part of the sec-

ond phase in order to capture the commonalities and differ-

ences across rural and urban subsistence contexts. Amato and

Zuo (1992) note that the subjective experience of poverty as

well as the stress associated with it are likely to be different for

rural and urban poor. They observe that factors such as social

support, kinship networks, and institutional membership are

key differences across these contexts. Our motivation to

include rural informants stems from the objective of investigat-

ing the issue of sustainability across these contextual differ-

ences between urban and rural poor, given such factors as the

different natural environments that they live in.

We analyzed the data independently using the constant com-

parative method, which involves researchers simultaneously

coding and analyzing data across interviews to develop concepts

and relationships with the eventual goal of evolving coherent

theoretical propositions (Taylor and Bogdan 1998). The authors

used the descriptive data to develop concepts. The concepts were

then used as sensitizing material to eventually develop coherent

theoretical propositions (Blumer 1969). Two of the authors are

originally from the cultural context of the research sites whereas

the remaining three are outsiders. These variations in the back-

ground of authors enabled us to analyze and interpret data from

different vantage points and arrive at a consensus (Thomas et al.

Table 1. Demographic Information of Informants.

No.Name(fictitious)

Urban/Rural Gender

Age(yrs.) Education

1 Anbazhagan Urban Male NA 10th grade2 Anand Rural Male 40 5th grade3 Bhuvaneswari Urban Female NA NA4 Chiranjeevi Urban Male 35 12th grade5 Damodaran Rural Male 38 10th grade6 Narasimhan Urban Male 37 10th grade7 Nandini Urban Female 41 10th grade8 Pankajam Urban Female NA 9th grade9 Selvi Urban Female 39 9th grade10 Suseela Urban Female 48 9th grade11 Sharada Urban Female NA NA12 Sanjeevan Rural Male NA 9th grade13 Venkatesan Urban Male 37 Bachelor of Arts14 Selvarasan Rural Male NA Bachelor of Arts




Table 2. Challenges of Distance in Subsistence Marketplaces.

QuoteNumber Spatial Distance Illustrative Quotes

1 Immediate and Near ‘‘Currently, the water is a problem (due to rain), the supply is mixed (contaminated), and the water isthe main source to spread the diseases. The water from drainages is mixed with drinking watersupply, so it is contaminated.’’ – Chiranjeevi, 35, Male, Urban

2 Immediate and Near ‘‘Our neighborhood is located nearby the sewerage water treatment plant established by thegovernment. They let out the treated water on the canal running behind our street. The canal alsocarries the wastewater let out from the families living in upper areas. The canal watercontaminates the ground water in our areas. I doubt the quality of available water too. One day Inotice foul smell from the water and the other day it seems to be good. I cannot assure that we getclean or good water always. – Selvi, 39, Female, Urban

3 Immediate and Near ‘‘ . . . Nobody is disposing the garbage properly. It is spread everywhere. The air passes through thegarbage, bringing the bad effects and foul smell. It is inhaled by everyone, from children to adults.Then . . . the smoking of cigarettes . . . the smokers smoke the cigarettes in public places, which affecteveryone.’’ – Nandini, 41, Female, Urban

4 Immediate and Near ‘‘Even today I saw a plastic bag containing garbage thrown on the street by someone. My ownprinciple is not to use plastic. I used to go with a cloth bag while shopping. I used to advise othersnot to use plastic. But nobody listens . . . They pack their domestic waste and garbage in a plasticbag and simply throw it on the corner of the street while they go to work or shopping. People aretoo lazy to use a broom and a box to keep separate the biodegradable and plastic materials. Eventhe people going to work (educated) come out of their house, keeping their handbag in one handand a plastic bag filled with garbage in the other hand. They never bothered about the dustbins;they simply throw the garbage on the corner of the street . . . due to plastic covers, the heat isincreased; it blocks the water flow also.’’ – Sharada, Female, Urban

5 Immediate and Near ‘‘There is no proper storage there also, suppose there is a rain and the paddy gets wet, there will be nohope of selling it. They will say the paddy is wet and askus to take it back.’’ – Damodaran, 38, Male, Rural

6 Immediate and Near ‘‘We cannot compare farming with business, because, we put our faith in the land – ‘bhoomi’ (earth)– asking it to take care of us and we take care of it equally like our child.’’ – Anand, 40, Male, Rural

7 Moderate and Far ‘‘We should not destroy the forests that are beneficial to humans. It will lead to lack of air, failure of rain,and destruction of nature. When the forest goes, even the plants and small trees will disappearautomatically. Awareness should be created to join hands in protecting the forest. We should protectnature.’’ – Anbazhagan, Male, Urban

8 Moderate and Far ‘‘We grow ground nuts also, but at present it is not growing well so, we feel frustrated when we thinkof groundnuts. That is the easiest to grow, but because of the unseasonal rains and the change inclimatic patterns, we are not able to make profits with that, even those who sowed now facedheavy loss.’’ – Anand, 40, Male, Rural

9 Moderate and Far ‘‘Unnecessary buildings, they are mushrooming everywhere. In the past, the houses were made withthatches and used palm leaves or coconut leaves. We didn’t find that much pollution when wewere living in such houses, because those leaves or thatches controlled and filtered whatever dustpassed through air. Now, we aren’t safe because of the present types of buildings. Suppose wereside in a flat where someone came and murdered us, no one would notice us or come forwardto rescue us. The structure is not conducive to alert the neighbors. They can’t hear what ishappening in the nearby house.’’ – Nandini, 41, Female, Urban

10 Moderate and Far ‘‘Nowadays more flat systems [apartments] are flourishing and available than individual houses . . .there was attachment in the joint family system. We cannot expect such socialization and attachmentamong the families living in a flat system, whereas we can expect a kind of homogeneity among thefamilies living in individual houses on a street. Families living in a flat [apartment] system will not botherabout their neighbors.’’ – Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban

11 Moderate and Far ‘‘Irrespective of the people or organization, whether it is a company or government or serviceorganization or politicians, they take care of the hygiene in their own rooms and drinking water fortheir needs. They should give preference in providing clean water to the public. They use the officialmachinery to keep their compound and nearby areas free from sanitation problems. They wouldn’tbother about the end of their own street or next street where the public reside . . . nobodyunderstands that pollution would affect everyone. The air coming out from A/C machines, aircoolers, electric cookers, microwave ovens, etc. are poisonous . . . ’’ – Nandini, 41, Female, Urban

12 Moderate and Far ‘‘Earlier there were forests, but now all that has been encroached and it has been brought undercultivation, and the way people work has also changed. Those days, they used to take the effort to mixthe vegetation by stamping with the feet with the dung and prepare the manure and only then, theyused to start the farming. But now people don’t even want to remove their shirts. Nowadays, thewhole context has changed, nobody wants to work, everybody wants more money very quickly, andpeople want to become rich fast.’’ – Anand, 40, Male, Rural

(continued)




2000). In reporting the findings, we use tables with verbatim

quotes organized by topic and further subcategorized by themes.

We also present some illustrative quotes in the body of the

manuscript. For a more exhaustive list of informant quotes, we

refer the reader to Tables 2, 3 and 4 where all the relevant quotes

are organized and presented by themes.

Challenges and Coping in Subsistence Marketplaces

We categorized the environmental challenges that our infor-

mants faced as being at immediate (household), near (local),

moderate (societal), or far (global) distances for those living

in subsistence, and the discussion unfolds accordingly

(Table 2). The environment in the immediate distance is the

informant’s own home and surroundings where most time is

typically spent. The near refers to the local environment in terms

of issues, such as sewage, air and water, outside the home, in the

streets, and in the community. The moderate distance represents

the larger society, such as cities, sets of villages, a province or

the country. The farthest distant environment represents tradi-

tional global environmental issues in other settings, such as

climate change and global warming. We present relevant pic-

tures of our research sites to provide a rich visual description

of the context (see Figure 1).

Challenges – Immediate and Near. In subsistence marketplaces,

environmental issues are not at some level of abstraction

wherein people can compartmentalize them, but rather hit

home at a local level. Local conditions contaminate water sup-

ply to households in the immediate distance (Quotes 1 and 2,

Table 2) (see Figure 1). If people use and dispose plastic bags,

sewages get blocked and diseases spread (Quotes 3 and 4,

Table 2).

Even today I saw a plastic bag containing garbage thrown on

the street by someone. My own principle is not to use plastic.

I used to go with a cloth bag while shopping. I used to advise

others not to use plastic. But nobody listens . . . They pack their

domestic waste and garbage in a plastic bag and simply throw it

on the corner of the street while they go to work or shopping.

People are too lazy to use a broom and a box to keep separate

the biodegradable and plastic materials. Even the people going

to work (educated) come out of their house, keeping their hand-

bag in one hand and a plastic bag filled with garbage in the

other hand. They never bothered about the dustbins; they sim-

ply throw the garbage on the corner of the street . . . due to plas-

tic covers, the heat is increased; it blocks the water flow also.

(Sharada, Female, Urban)

Environmental issues are not distant, but a day-to-day real-

ity. Quote 3 (Table 2) illustrates neighborhood practices at the

near/local distance and how they affect survival, and quality of

life at an immediate distance (i.e., in one’s own household),

workplace or nearby. A participant relates how plastic usage

affects the immediate environment (see Figure 1). The impact

is immediate in time and space (Quote 4, Table 2). Even distant

environmental factors such as weather conditions and rainfall

have a proximal impact to lives and livelihoods as illustrated

by Quote 5 (Table 2). Similarly, heavy rains have a dispropor-

tionately negative impact on poor urban neighborhoods due to

bad roads, and poor drainage and sanitation that have immedi-

ate economic implications.

Table 2. (continued)

QuoteNumber Spatial Distance Illustrative Quotes

13 Moderate and Far ‘‘There is no truth. Truth is not prevailing in the society. Mother has no sincere affection for her child,children has no affection for their parents. It becomes like mechanical life, all become like machines. . . the reason is over-expectations. People try to cheat when they have too high expectations. Forexample, those who are riding bicycles wish to acquire motorbikes, those who have bikes wish to gettheir own car, those who have their own car wish to buy their own bungalow. Real affection is dilutedwhile the level of expectations increases.’’ – Nandini, 41, Female, Urban

14 Moderate and Far ‘‘The nature has changed. There is change in the season. Ancestors classified the seasons in a yearinto four – winter, summer, etc. There is a proverb that says ‘‘Even the grinding stone will bemoved by the winds/storm coming in the month of [16 July-15 August]’’ . . . But, we can’t noticethe wind at all in this month.’’ – Nandini, 41, Female, Urban

15 Moderate and Far ‘‘I have heard that the hole in the ozone layer caused global warming. I believe that the pollution andhigh smoke is the reason for the hole in the ozone layer. Erecting deep bore wells in too muchdepth and sucking enormous water is also one of the reasons for the earth warming. Now thenumber of trees and plants become less. More forests and more trees will give rain. There is apossibility for the earth to get cool if it receives more rain due to forestation.’’ – Bhuvaneswari,Female, Urban

16 Moderate and Far ‘‘All the smoke and pollution is the reason for climate changes. Also the overuse of electricity is oneof the reasons for climate changes. It is good for each person to reduce their consumption ofelectricity by their level best. We should avoid burning more lights for more hours. Everyoneshould try to plant and grow trees as much as possible. Government and society should help us toachieve this through awareness.’’ – Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban




Table 3. Coping Strategies in Subsistence Marketplaces.

QuoteNumber Strategies Illustrative Quotes

17 Control at ImmediateDistance

‘‘I stopped the use of plastic items. I collect the garbage from my house and dispose of it at the dustbinerected by the corporation. I use the brinjal, tomato, and chili seeds, which otherwise would becomewaste while preparing the vegetables for the preparation of food, to spread at the corner and sidefloor of the wall at my house. Sometimes the seeds yield more . . . I try my level best to walk to theplaces where I want to go and avoid using vehicles.’’ – Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban

18 Control at ImmediateDistance

‘‘My own practice to prevent the pollution in the house is . . . I would choose the light color or whitecolor cloth to stitch window curtains. I always use a variety of cloth containing micro holes to filter thedust from the air. The minute holes in the curtain cloth will enable free flow of air as well as filter thedust. You look at the cloth after three or four days and find layers of dust.’’ – Nandini, 41, Female,Urban

19 Making ‘‘We would collect the waste cloths from the tailor shop and make pillow covers and mats. We useto make cloth bags from the old pants.’’ – Selvi, 39, Female, Urban

20 Foregoing ‘‘We cannot buy dresses all the time or whenever we wish to do so. We can buy new dress only forfestivals and during any important family functions. . . . depending on the income we budget fordresses. We will buy dresses only for children, if our income is not sufficient. Because, their happinessis central for us, as adult can understand the situation and compromise.’’ – Pankajam, Female, Urban

21 Cross-Using/Making ‘‘We have coconut trees in our compound. We make broomsticks from the coconut leaves grownfrom our trees.’’ – Selvi, 39, Female, Urban

22 Cross-Using ‘‘Cow we use for milk, for getting manure for the farm. The cow dung we take to the farm and makeit as manure. The milk we use and apart from that we also sell at the society. Apart from what weneed for use if we sell at the society once in ten days, they make the payment which is also useful. . . the main reason is that we get manure from the dung for the farm and apart from the milk usedat the house we sell it at the society and make a little extra money for house hold expenses.’’ –Sanjeevan, Male, Rural

23 Reducing ‘‘If you take the food for example, we can have non-vegetarian food even for four days a week. But,we restrict it to have only one day a week to save money. I try to reduce my own expenses such asfuel and travel cost. Earlier, I used a two-wheeler or hired an auto to attend all my tasks.’’ –Venkatesan, 37, Male, Urban

24 Reusing ‘‘I wouldn’t hesitate to use the old saree that was used by my sister . . . I would use the clothes ordresses very gently so they would last for years.’’ – Selvi, 39, Female, Urban

25 Reusing ‘‘We wouldn’t waste even the water used to wash and clean the rice before cooking. We will keepthis rice-washed water for some time for dilution. We will remove the sluggish and precipitatedcontents and use the diluted water for the preparation of gravy and side dishes. We will use theremaining waste water for other purposes such as watering the plants, etc.’’ – Selvi, 39, Female,Urban

26 Reusing/Cross-using ‘‘We wouldn’t waste any materials. For example, we had a damaged and rusted iron cot. When wetried to dispose of it, we were offered only Rs.50/- as the cost of old iron. So, we converted it as alid for the water tank and saved money. It protects the tank water from contamination throughdust forming or birds’ excreta.’’ – Selvi, 39, Female, Urban

27 Harvesting ‘‘I have made arrangements to ensure that the rainwater that fell on the roof enters the well througherected pipes. I wouldn’t allow the rainwater to be wasted. When we have continuous rain we collectthe rainwater and use it for domestic purposes.’’ – Selvi, 39, Female, Urban

28 Relating to theEnvironment

‘‘We would do these ourselves without hiring any external labor, whether it is cleaning of oursewage system or renovating the well. We get fresh air around our house as we grow all theseplants and trees. We can make simple dishes from these vegetables and herbal plants.’’ – Selvi, 39,Female, Urban


‘‘Burning soap covers along with neem leaves will chase the mosquitoes. We use the waste covers fromthe soap we used and collect a few dry leaves, including neem leaves, from the tree near the house toburn and chase out the mosquitoes in the late evening.’’ – Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban


‘‘We should try to keep our environment clean and protect our family members from diseases. Itwould help us to reduce the medical expenses . . . as an individual, we can’t do anything to controlor contain the air pollution. The number of vehicles is increasing day by day; controlling this is notin my hands. We can grow plants and creepers, if we have a little space. We can prevent thebreeding of mosquitoes which is a major hazardous in the city if we avoid the stagnation of wateraround our living places.’’ – Venkatesan, 37, Male, Urban

31 Collective Action ‘‘We can collect water from the well for domestic use. If we face any water scarcity, we will report itto the ruling party man. They will approach the authorities and arrange the potable water throughwater tankers. It will be stored in a common potable tank and shared by our neighbors.’’ – Selvi,39, Female, Urban




Table 4. Bottom-Up Perspective on Sustainability.

QuoteNumber

Element ofSustenance Illustrative Quote

32 Survival ‘‘Currently, the water is a problem (due to rain), the supply is mixed (contaminated), and the water is the mainsource to spread the diseases. The water from drainages is mixed with drinking water supply, so it iscontaminated.’’ – Chiranjeevi, 35, Male, Urban

33 Survival ‘‘There is no proper storage there also; suppose there is a rain and the paddy gets wet there will be no hope ofselling it, they will say the paddy is wet and ask us to take it back.’’ – Damodaran, 38, Male, Rural l

34 Relatedness ‘‘For example when we start farming we need to take care of the cows, they need straw. If we grow groundnuts then the plants can be used as fodder for the cattle and the goats, so we consider that at least for thesake of the cattle we have grown this crop.’’ – Selvarasan, Male, Rural

35 Relatedness ‘‘Suppose we are spending the capital from our money alone then we can wait till we get a good rate for theproduce and then sell it. But suppose we have borrowed from others and used it then we cannot afford towait. So rather than wait for the three or four months and get that five rupees extra we just sell it as soonas we get the harvest and settle the loans.’’ – Selvarasan, Male, Rural

36 Relatedness ‘‘Yes, some people do like that also, they note how the neighbor grows a crop and if it was good they follow thatmethod themselves. In this season the conditions for growth will be common, and the neighbor can behelpful, mainly the pest control will be uniform and better, so they discuss and do it.’’ – Sanjeevan, Male, Rural

37 Relatedness ‘‘I will get the money from my friend and return it when I get my money, sometimes take money fromsomeone who can give and the rest we manage our own funds. Even now we spent 15000 for the crop, Ihave borrowed ten thousand from my friend and I will return it to him in about 2 or three months, that ishow we manage.’’ – Sanjeevan, Male, Rural

38 Growth ‘‘Yes, the main reason is that we get manure from the dung for the farm and apart from the milk used at thehouse we sell it at the society and make a little extra money for house hold expenses.’’ – Selvarasan, Male,Rural

39 Growth ‘‘As far as education is concerned, the government is doing well and encourages female children to continuetheir education through providing education materials including free bicycle to travel to school. We shouldprepare our next generation with awareness on the importance of education, clean air, etc. to managetheir future.’’ – Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban

40 Growth ‘‘In the village . . . there are computers and they want to do that, there are cell phones and many things likethat. Even though there is a shortage of labor in farming and increase in the cost of labor, most of thechildren prefer studies’’ – Sanjeevan, Male, Rural

41 Growth ‘‘My children are studying in 4th std. Computers is one of their subject. They used to operate the computer aspart of their subject. If they feel that they need computer, I would consider the purchase of computer forthem. Neither have I learnt about computers nor had opportunities to operate. But, I shouldn’t allow mychildren to face lack of computer knowledge or opportunity. I would always consider my children’s needs,they are my priority.’’ – Narasimhan, 37, Male, Urban

42 Survival andGrowth

‘‘If every parent provides education to their children and has a little savings for the next generation, they canmanage the future. Education is the basic need for the survival of all. If they get good education, they can getjobs and earn enough to meet their needs.’’ – Suseela, 48, Female, Urban


‘‘ . . . It is better to go as a wage laborer. But if everyone decides to go as a wage laborer there will be no oneleft to pay for the sowing. For example when we start farming we need to take care of the cows, they needstraw, if we grow ground nuts then the plants can be used as fodder for the cattle and the goats, so weconsider that at least for the sake of the cattle we have grown this crop.’’ – Sanjeevan, Male, Rural


‘‘I try to provide a good education and healthy food for our children. I dispose of the garbage carefully andmaintain cleanliness. I try to practice with my children to walk instead of depending on vehicles. I encouragethem to exercise to maintain their physical health. I stopped the use of plastic items. I collect the garbage frommy house and dispose of it at the dustbin erected by the corporation.’’ – Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban


‘‘Society should enable its children to learn good habits and practices. Society should ensure that its childrengrow healthy and are protected from diseases and are provided with good education. They should betaught the importance of protecting their environment. Society should encourage the younger generationto grow with a social consciousness and plant trees, etc.’’ – Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban

46 Survival andRelatedness

‘‘Society is helpful to provide employment, if we approach the society and seek employment opportunity aftersharing our family problems, they will give priority to us among the ten or fifteen already searching job. Wesurvive because of the cooperation from the society.’’ – Pankajam, Female, Urban

47 Relatedness andGrowth

‘‘There is no truth; truth is not prevailing in the society. Mother has no sincere affection for her child, childrenhas no affection for their parents. It becomes like mechanical life, all become like machines . . . the reason isover-expectations. People try to cheat when they have too high of expectations. For example, those whoare riding bicycles wish to acquire motorbikes, those who have bikes wish to get their own car, those whohave their own car wish to buy their own bungalow. Real affection is diluted while the level of expectationsincreases.’’ – Nandini, 41, Female, Urban




Currently, the water is a problem (due to rain), the supply is mixed

(contaminated), and the water is the main source to spread the dis-

eases. The water from drainages is mixed with drinking water supply,

so it is contaminated. (Chiranjeevi, 35, Male, Urban)

By the same token, local environmental resources often act

as safety nets during times of uncertainty leading to a proximal

relationship and consequently, a very concrete view of the

environment. There seems to be an orientation of nurturing,

with the immediacy of survival not always leading to disregard

of environment. In a rural setting where the local environment

is the source of livelihood, a farmer describes how land is nur-

tured, and reflects on how they relate to the land as they would

to a person (Quote 6, Table 2).

We cannot compare farming with business, because, we put our

faith in the land – ‘bhoomi’ (earth) – asking it to take care of

us and we take care of it equally like our child. (Anand, 40, Male,

Rural)

Challenges – Moderate and Far. Both in rural and urban settings,

subsistence living entails close interaction and intimacy with

the near/local environment. People have an intuitive sense of

sustainability, which is attributable to the value placed on

scarce resources and the direct dependence on nature. The

subsistence farmer’s direct reliance on rain for his/her liveli-

hood is illustrative of this point. Again, this is in contrast to

relatively affluent settings where people can shield them-

selves in large part from the vagaries of nature, such as the

weather. Depending on nature for a variety of needs also leads

to this orientation about the moderate distance (societal level),

as an informant noted (Quote 7, Table 2). In a rural setting,

uncontrollable factors such as weather play a major role

(Quote 8, Table 2).

Figure 1. Pictures of Research Sites.




We grow groundnuts also, but at present it is not growing well

so, we feel frustrated when we think of groundnuts. That is the

easiest to grow, but because of the unseasonal rains and the

change in climatic patterns, we are not able to make profits

with that, even those who sowed now faced heavy loss. (Anand,

40, Male, Rural)

In terms of the moderate (societal) distance environment,

informants expressed concerns about unsustainable develop-

ment affecting local environments (Quote 9, Table 2). Partici-

pants linked development to erosion of social networks and

relatedness. They harken back to a previous time when there

was a thriving joint family system, and bemoan the lack of

neighborhood support in current times (Quote 10, Table 2). At

this moderate distance (societal level), an informant brought

up the issue of unsustainable governance and lack of account-

ability (Quote 11, Table 2). Informants talked about how certain

well-meaning government initiatives related to environmental

conservation had limited impact owing to reduced awareness

on the part of members in society. Informants discussed the neg-

ative impact of economic survival on pooled environmental

resources (Quote 12, Table 2). They also noted a central issue

that underlies sustainability at a societal level – unsustainable

material expectations. Living at or near subsistence, they are

able to recognize how central such expectations are to sustain-

ability, perhaps something likely to be taken for granted in more

affluent settings (Quote 13, Table 2).

There is no truth. Truth is not prevailing in the society. Mother

has no sincere affection for her child; children have no affec-

tion for their parents. It becomes like mechanical life, all

become like machines . . . the reason is over-expectations. Peo-

ple try to cheat when they have too high expectations. For

example, those who are riding bicycles wish to acquire motor-

bikes, those who have bikes wish to get their own car, those

who have their own car wish to buy their own bungalow. Real

affection is diluted while the level of expectations increases.

(Nandini, 41, Female, Urban)

At the broadest level in terms of the distant environment

(global level), informants expressed thoughts about nature

itself (Quote 14, Table 2). When informants had heard of global

warming or other global phenomena, they drew from an intui-

tive sense of the environment and nature (Quotes 15, 16,

Table 2).

All the smoke and pollution is the reason for climate change.

Also the overuse of electricity is one of the reasons for climate

change. It is good for each person to reduce their consumption

of electricity by their level best. We should avoid burning more

lights for more hours. Everyone should try to plant and grow

trees as much as possible. Government and society should help

us to achieve this through awareness. (Bhuvaneswari, Female,

Urban)

Challenges – Summary. The proximity of environmental chal-

lenges in subsistence living contrasts to relatively resource-

rich settings where individuals and communities have the

ability to create distance from these problems. Those better

off can afford to live in cleaner surroundings, enact local reg-

ulations, and transport their garbage to landfills (Gattig and

Hendrickx 2007). The environmental justice literature under-

scores the powerlessness of poor communities in proactively

participating in decisions related to the environment (Capek

1993).

Whereas these distances we speak of are primarily spatial,

they also have approximate associations with other forms of

distance, referred to in the literature as psychological distances.

Distance can be differentiated along temporal, spatial, social

(‘‘happening to people like me’’), and probabilistic (hypotheti-

cality or how likely an event is) dimensions (Trope and Liber-

man 2010). In subsistence contexts, all these distances are

small when compared to relatively resource-rich contexts. As

noted in previous research, the ability to envision beyond the

immediate is restricted by cognitive constraints. Immediate and

near distances capture one’s social context, whereas the socie-

tal and global represent greater social distances, with the latter

two being further differentiated. Similarly, hypothetical dis-

tances also have an approximate association as immediate and

near distances represent high certainty, moderate (societal)

distances less certainty, and the farthest (global) distances the

least certainty. In the temporal dimension, immediate and near

spatial distance may be closely tied to the immediate and the

near term, whereas societal and global distance may seem

temporally more removed. Thus, what we describe originally

in terms of spatial distance may be associated with other

dimensions of psychological distance, with the immediate and

near distances representing relatively small psychological

distance and the moderate and farther spatial distances repre-

senting greater psychological distances.

In relatively resource-rich settings, environmental problems

are often isolated at a physical distance (Kante 2004). They

may intrude in some forms such as pollution in large cities, but

are often perceived as impacting dissimilar others (low-income

communities, or inhabitants of poor nations). In addition, envi-

ronmental problems may be perceived in terms of broader

issues such as the rise in sea-level and warming temperatures

whose ill-effects are temporally thought to be somewhat distant

(years or decades away), and have levels of likelihood attached

to them rather than absolute certainty (Church et al. 2008). In

this regard, research in relatively resource-rich settings using

distances categorized as self, town, country, continent, and

world has shown perceptions of more serious environmental

problems at greater distances (Uzzell 2000).

Coping and Sustaining. The next area of findings relate to how

individuals cope (see Table 3). Despite the lack of control in

so many aspects of life, people find ways to cope and strive

to move to a sustainable future. The way they cope depends

on the distance from environmental issues and roughly corre-

sponds to the degree of control they can exert. The nearness

of challenges is roughly associated with the degree of control

that subsistence individuals can exert at least in a relative sense




as they respond and cope in day-to-day life. There are many

examples of coping at the immediate distance (Quote 17,

Table 3). Informants also engage in many household-level sus-

tainable practices for their immediate environment in order to

wrest back some control in what is essentially a mostly

uncontrollable near (local) environment that permeates the

immediate distance (Quote 18, Table 3).

I stopped the use of plastic items. I collect the garbage from my

house and dispose of it at the dustbin erected by the corporation.

I use the brinjal, tomato, and chili seeds, which otherwise would

become waste while preparing the vegetables for the preparation

of food, to spread at the corner and side floor of the wall at my

house. Sometimes the seeds yield more . . . I try my level best to

walk to the places where I want to go and avoid using vehicles.

(Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban)

People also find ways to cope by reducing, reusing,

recycling, cross-using, and harvesting resources (Lehman and

Geller 2004; USEPA 2012). Additionally, making and simply

foregoing are other ways to cope as noted elsewhere in the lit-

erature (Quotes 19 and 20, Table 3) (Viswanathan et al. 2009).

Cross-use of limited available resources is a recurring theme

in the coping strategies displayed in both rural and urban con-

texts (Quotes 21 and 22, Table 3). Reducing or sometimes

even foregoing the use of resources is a strategy often adopted

in subsistence to address the issue of resource constraints

(Quote 23, Table 3). Reusing resources such as clothes and

water ensures that these limited resources are optimally used

(Quotes 24 and 25, Table 3). Proactively augmenting scarce

but important resources such as water by harvesting rainfall

is crucial (Quote 27, Table 3). Underlying these coping stra-

tegies is the issue of doing so much more with less. These cop-

ing strategies address various facets of life such as better

health, reduced expenditure, and better quality of life (Quote

26, Table 3).

We wouldn’t waste any materials. For example, we had a damaged

and rusted iron cot. When we tried to dispose of it, we were offered

only Rs.50/- as the cost of old iron. So, we converted it as a lid for

the water tank and saved money. It protects the tank water from con-

tamination through dust forming or birds’ excreta. (Selvi, 39,

Female, Urban, example of cross-use).

We cannot buy dresses all the time or whenever we wish to do so.

We can buy new dress only for festivals and during any important

family functions. . . . depending on the income we budget for

dresses. We will buy dresses only for children, if our income is not

sufficient. Because, their happiness is central for us, as adult can

understand the situation and compromise. (Pankajam, Female,

Urban, example of foregoing).

I wouldn’t hesitate to use the old saree that was used by my sister . . . I

would use the cloths or dresses very gently so they would last for

years. (Selvi, 39, Female, Urban, example of reusing).

I have made arrangements to ensure that the rainwater that fell

on the roof enters the well through erected pipes. I wouldn’t allow

the rainwater to be wasted. When we have continuous rain we

collect the rainwater and use it for domestic purposes. (Selvi, 39,

Female, Urban, example of harvesting).

Even in urban settings, the environment is something to be

nurtured for providing resources and benefits. Relating to the

environment is a key element in coping. Planting trees and

plants around the house, for example, not only enhances the

quality of air but also provides fresh vegetables and herbs for

cooking (Quote 28, Table 3). Given the extreme resource con-

straints in subsistence marketplaces, informants illustrated how

locally available herbs and waste materials are used to counter

serious health hazards from mosquitoes (Quote 29, Table 3).

We would do these ourselves without hiring any external labor,

whether it is cleaning of our sewage system or renovating the well.

We get fresh air around our house as we grow all these plants and

trees. We can make simple dishes from these vegetables and herbal

plants. (Selvi, 39, Female, Urban)

A central aspect of these coping strategies is that they

involve the very immediate environment (i.e., the household),

perhaps the only arena where there is some degree of control

(Quotes 17 and 18, Table 3). Informants speak to the need to

relate to the environment and nurture it at immediate and near

distances (Quote 30, Table 3). Whereas the reference to num-

ber of vehicles is both at local and societal levels, coping

relates back to the immediate distance. Collective action is

another aspect of coping for issues at near (local) distance

(Quote 31, Table 3).

We can collect water from the well for domestic use. If we face

any water scarcity, we will report it to the ruling party man.

They will approach the authorities and arrange the potable

water through water tankers. It will be stored in a common

potable tank and shared by our neighbors. (Selvi, 39, Female,

Urban)

Striving to Sustain – Sustenance through Survival, Relatedness, andGrowth. Our analysis suggested that, in enacting these coping

strategies, individuals strive to sustain three key elements – sur-

vival, relatedness, and growth (Table 4). In Figure 2, we iden-

tify and summarize these three arenas. The first arena is

physical survival, which includes covering very basic needs

such as food, water, shelter, sanitation, and clean air. The moti-

vation here is simply survival, having the basic necessities for

sustenance. Survival relates to a variety of physiological needs,

which, in turn, are dependent on the local environment. Envi-

ronmental degradation has a direct impact on health, quality

of life and a host of other issues related to basic physical sur-

vival. A number of examples above relate to physical survival

in terms of food, clean air, and other such necessities. As our

discussion to this point suggests, surviving in a physical sense

is a central aspect of what individuals strive to sustain through

coping (Quotes 32 and 33, Table 4).

Currently, the water is a problem (due to rain), the supply is

mixed (contaminated), and the water is the main source to




spread the diseases. The water from drainages is mixed with

drinking water supply, so it is contaminated. (Chiranjeevi, 35,

Male, Urban)

Another theme is relatedness, starting with basic identity

and extending to relationships with family, community, the

environment, and other entities. As shown by the one-to-one

interactional world of intensely personal interactions (Viswa-

nathan et al. 2012) and by the erosion of social networks with

unsustainable development emphasized in the earlier quotes,

this realm of relatedness provides the bulwark against the next

crises and a sense of identity in the face of lack of basic

resources. Relatedness is tied to the environment in a number

of ways, such as through the erosion of relationships with

development, or unsustainable material expectations that affect

relationships, or the erosion of cultural beliefs in the face of

materialism. In this regard, environmental degradation may

be perceived as ‘‘shared’’ by the households of close-knit com-

munities. Environmentally hazardous behaviors such as dispos-

ing of garbage on the streets may be weighed against the social

cost of harming relationships.

Relatedness also extends to the local environment itself as

earlier quotes on nurturing natural resources highlight. For

example, in rural settings farmers must take care of their live-

stock (Quote 34, Table 4). Relatedness plays a multi-faceted

role in subsistence. Neighboring farmers share information

on farming and also collaborate to guard against pest attacks,

which can have disastrous impact on their income (Quote 36,

Table 4). Relatedness also provides a buffer in times of cash

constraints (Quote 37, Table 4). Financial assistance from

friends and family becomes critical with limited access to

formal financial services.

I will get the money from my friend and return it when I get my

money, sometimes take money from someone who can give and

the rest we manage our own funds. Even now we spent Rs.

15000 for the crop, I have borrowed ten thousand from my friend

and I will return it to him in about two or three months, that is how

we manage. (Sanjeevan, Male, Rural)

The final theme is growth, best captured by quotes about

striving for a better future for children through education.

Closest to the conventional notion of sustainability in an inter-

generational sense is the aspiration to move toward a better

future. If survival is based on finding a footing in terms of basic

physiological needs and relatedness is about identity, then

growth is about building on this foundation to reach for a better

future. A better environment for children to live in is implicit in

growth; although prominent in the quotes are the need for

growth in terms of education and quality of life. The theme

of growth refers to individuals passing sustainable practices

on to the next generation and is at the heart of sustainability

(Quotes 38, 39, 40, and 41, Table 4).

‘My children are studying in 4th std. Computers is one of their sub-

ject. They used to operate the computer as part of their subject. If

they feel that they need computer, I would consider the purchase of

computer for them. Neither have I learnt about computers nor had

opportunities to operate. But, I shouldn’t allow my children to face

lack of computer knowledge or opportunity. I would always con-

sider my children’s needs, they are my priority. (Narasimhan, 37,

Male, Urban)

Although growth needs are an important facet of sustaining

oneself, the present condition of subsistence often poses trade-

offs between growth and survival needs (Quote 42, Table 4).

Jobs with higher incomes could be foregone for the sake of pre-

serving the important safety net of livestock (Quote 43,

Table 4). Despite the lack of control in so many aspects of life,

people find ways to pass on sustainable practices to the next

generation (Quotes 44 and 45, Table 4).

I try to provide a good education and healthy food for our children.

I dispose of the garbage carefully and maintain cleanliness. I try to

practice with my children to walk instead of depending on vehicles.

I encourage them to exercise to maintain their physical health. I

stopped the use of plastic items. I collect the garbage from my

house and dispose of it at the dustbin erected by the corporation.

(Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban)

Each of these elements interacts with the others. The imme-

diacy of survival may have a negative impact on relatedness if

cultural norms and traditions are more difficult to follow, but a

potentially positive impact if social support enables survival

(Quote 46, Table 4). Relatedness and growth may have a com-

plex relationship. Identity and belonging provide a foundation

for growth, but norms and expectations may inhibit growth and

the pursuit of opportunities (Quote 47, Table 4). Survival is, of

course, necessary for growth, but the pursuit of survival often

means focusing on the immediate while sacrificing medium

Figure 2. Bottom-up perspective on sustainability.




term growth opportunities. Thus, the bottom-up view of what

subsistence individuals strive to sustain is a complex interplay

between the need to survive and subsist in terms of basic, phy-

siological needs, the need to relate in terms of basic psycholo-

gical needs, and the need to move from subsistence toward a

more sustainable path through growth for oneself or the next

generation.

Society is helpful to provide employment, if we approach the soci-

ety and seek employment opportunity after sharing our family

problems, they will give priority to us among the ten or fifteen

already searching job. We survive because of the cooperation from

the society. (Pankajam, Female, Urban)

Placing this discussion in the context of extensive past

research (Kenrick et al. 2010), Maslow’s (1943) classic work

organizes the hierarchy in terms of immediate physiological,

safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization needs. The notion

of a hierarchy rather than primary and secondary drives is based

on cognitive and developmental priorities. Many researchers

have examined and modified the hierarchy, such as Kenrick

et al.’s (2010) updated hierarchy of fundamental human

motives – immediate physiological, self-protection, affiliation,

status/esteem, mate acquisition, mate retention, and parenting.

Alderfer (1972) categorized Maslow’s hierarchy into existence

(capturing physiological and safety needs), relatedness (captur-

ing safety, social, and self-esteem needs), and growth (captur-

ing self-esteem and actualization needs). Although almost

similar to the terminology we use, important distinctions dis-

cussed here relate to the grounding of these categories in the

reality of subsistence rather than in Maslow’s original hierar-

chy. In this regard, we generate a categorization of what subsis-

tence individuals strive to sustain in subsistence contexts. We

argue that a key set of needs relate to basic physical survival

encompassing physiological and safety aspects of the hierarchy.

Survival is the basis or the necessary condition in a sense for

thinking about what to sustain. Clearly, the issues listed under

this category can be further divided and placed in established

hierarchies of needs. The category of relatedness captures love

and esteem needs in the classic Maslow hierarchy of affiliation

and status/esteem in one of the later modifications.

As research on subsistence marketplaces shows, the need to

relate interacts constantly with the need to survive. Sometimes,

the need to survive in terms of basic physiological and safety

issues may mean an inability to participate in social relation-

ships, such as keeping up traditions that involve scarce

resources (Viswanathan 2007). Often, relationships bolster the

ability to survive. Included in the need to relate is how one’s

own identity and sense of dignity is closely tied to relatedness

in this one-to-one interactional world and the motivation to

survive. Survival and relatedness provide the foundation to

envision growth, whether for oneself or for the next generation,

through such means as education, and upward mobility.

Growth places individuals on a sustainable path, made possible

by first gaining some foothold through survival. Perhaps the

parallel here is to self-actualization, but it is not so much the

realization of one’s full individual potential that is in focus.

Rather, the focus is on realizing some path that leads to growth

for one’s family in the immediate or medium term or for one’s

children in the longer term. Growth is fueled by the hope for a

better future, if not for oneself, then certainly for one’s chil-

dren. It captures the essence of a sustainable path. Self-

actualization, on the other hand, is a luxury that subsistence

individuals often cannot afford.

Efficacy and Motivation to Sustain at Different Distances. The dif-

ferent distances discussed earlier may have a complex relation-

ship with the themes of survival, relatedness, and growth. We

focus specifically on two sets of constructs. One is related to

control, self-efficacy (‘‘a person’s belief in his or her capability

to perform a given task’’; Boyd and Vozikis 1994, p. 66), and

response efficacy (Ajzen 1991; Bandura 1977). The other is

associated with motivation to act (Nicolaij and Hendrickx

2003; Pahl et al. 2005). Survival involves a minimal carbon

footprint, but entails the use of resources for the immediate

term, sometimes without considering the medium term (e.g.,

firewood and deforestation). Survival-related issues arise at

immediate and near distances. Whereas individuals exert some

control over the immediate, they lack much control over the

near distance, although perhaps having some collective effi-

cacy (‘‘social cohesion among neighbors combined with their

willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good’’;

Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls, 1997, p. 918) in addressing

local issues. Relatedness also manifests at immediate and near

distances and includes relating to the local environment and

one’s own community. Relatedness may lead to community

level action that may improve the local environment. Cultural

beliefs and traditions that arise in a relational context may both

enhance or potentially harm the environment as well. Survival

and relatedness are also needed in the immediate and near dis-

tances to negotiate the present.

Growth, however, pertains to longer term or temporally fur-

ther distances and may involve envisioning intermediate and

sometimes more removed spatial and social distances. With

an emphasis on a better life for the next generation, individuals

may consider societal and global issues. Yet, with an over-

whelming lack of control of near distances and the large local

environmental challenges, survival and relatedness may take

precedence over growth and its focus on intermediate and more

distant environmental issues. In the realm of growth, individu-

als may perceive some level of efficacy in engineering change

at greater distances.

We develop propositions about distance, efficacy and

motivation, which are summarized in Figure 3. The immediate

spatial distance is the arena where individuals possess relative

control and efficacy. It relates to basic survival, punctuating the

motivation to act, and pertains to relatedness in terms of

belonging and one’s own family. Physical survival and related-

ness go hand-in-hand in reinforcing their effects. Degree of

control and efficacy falls off moving to the local (near) distance

despite the immediate negative impacts as the local environ-

ment permeates the household. Nevertheless, there is room for




collective efficacy and the motivation to act, while lower, is

still at a moderate level. The immediate spatial distance also

includes social, hypothetical, and temporal distances, with

the combined effects of different types of distances perhaps

accentuating the total impact. In this regard, the research on

subsistence marketplaces reviewed earlier points to the empha-

sis on the here and now, arising from the survival impetus as

well as from cognitive constraints such as low literacy and con-

sequent concrete thinking.

In moving to greater spatial distances and considering the

societal and global levels, social and temporal distances grow

as well, with no control or efficacy. However, the growth

imperative in striving to sustain, which is at some temporal dis-

tance rather than immediate, as well as spatial distance in envi-

sioning moving to a better future in a better surrounding, may

lead to a moderate level of motivation to act for challenges

framed at societal and global levels. The discussion is summar-

ized in Figure 3 where perceived immediate, local, societal,

and global distances are represented on the horizontal axis and

levels of control and motivation on the vertical axis.

Comparing Subsistence to Relatively Resource-Rich Contexts. How

does our analysis contrast subsistence with relatively resource-

rich contexts? The biggest distinction between environmental

issues in advanced versus subsistence contexts is one of distance –

temporally, socially, spatially, and hypothetically. A burgeoning

literature on environmental psychology suggests that the

appraisal and importance of current environmental situations

are significantly discounted and the importance of the situations

decreases as distance from the perceiver increases (Nicolaij and

Hendrickx 2003; Pahl et al. 2005). In general, environmental

risks and their perceptions in advanced settings are psychologi-

cally distal, meaning that they are certainly uncertain, alienated

from ‘‘here and now,’’ and unlikely to affect selves and similar

others (Gattig and Hendrickx 2007). Therefore, environmental

risks in advanced contexts are more likely to be mentally repre-

sented in remote and abstract terms, and their negative conse-

quences seem abstract and metaphoric as a result, not leading

to appropriate action. In other words, when environmental risks

and their negative consequences are psychologically distal,

one’s relevance and vulnerability to them would become weaker

and less immediate, lowering risk aversion and motivation to act

(Gifford et al. 2009; Loewenstein et al. 2001; Nicolaij and Hen-

drickx 2003; Pahl et al. 2005). In subsistence contexts, on the

other hand, environmental risks and their perceptions are psy-

chologically near, meaning that they are very certain, happen

‘‘here and now,’’ and very likely to affect selves and similar oth-

ers. As psychological distances are likely to be very small as

well, people would make concrete representations of environ-

mental events, which are deeply embedded in their daily lives.

Construal level theory (CLT hereafter) focuses on psycholo-

gical distance and its effect on mental representations of events,

attitudes, and behaviors (Trope, Liberman, and Wakslak 2007;

Trope and Liberman 2003). Such construals can be at relatively

high (abstract) or low (concrete) levels, the former being

decontextualized and representing the gist of events and the lat-

ter being contextualized and capturing specific details. Adapt-

ing from examples in the literature to an environmental

example, plastic disposal blocking sewage in a neighborhood

could be construed in terms of immediate aspects of the envi-

ronment such as filth and odor, or at a higher level in terms

of environmental degradation or in terms of health hazards.

Such abstraction involves omitting details and focusing on cer-

tain underlying features. The literature has described how such

abstraction can occur based on object categorization, traits, and

goal-directed actions (Trope, Liberman, and Wakslak 2007;

Trope and Liberman 2003, 2010).

CLT’s basic proposition is that the more psychologically

distant an event is the more abstract its representation (Trope

and Liberman 2010). Conversely, the closer an event is to

direct experience, the more concrete and detailed the represen-

tation stemming from direct knowledge of the here and now. A

spatial analogy would be viewing the planet earth from distant

space versus from close at hand where details of terrain and

geographic boundaries are discernible. What is discernible, in

turn, influences attitudes and behaviors. A close psychological

distance to an event or challenge leads to easier perception of

details and more concrete understanding of challenges. This

means specific problems and their consequences, as well as the

anticipated and actual results of actions, are more quickly and

tangibly felt, allowing one to evaluate the feedback (i.e., as

effective versus not effective, or working versus not working)

and respond in continuation, alteration, or termination of the

action to mitigate the problem.

Two competing explanations may be drawn from this situa-

tion in which environmental risks and their impact are near in

all dimensions of psychological distance, in contrast to

resource-rich settings in which they are often perceived to be

alienated from here and now, to happen to others, and to be

uncertain. More vivid and concrete mental representations of

environmental risks and their direct negative consequences in

Figure 3. Levels of control and motivation as a function of perceivedspatial distance.




the subsistence marketplaces would lead people to understand

their vulnerability to the risks and the urgent need to act against

(Damasio 2005; Nisbett and Ross 1980), therefore encouraging

them to behave accordingly (Slovic et al. 2005). On the other

hand, vivid and concrete representations of environmental risks

and their consequences may discourage individuals and reduce

their motivation to act. Such concrete representations of envi-

ronmental risks may spill over onto representations about plan-

ning remedial behaviors, and lead people to put greater weight

on the feasibility (i.e., the means or how) than on the desirabil-

ity of remedial behaviors. These concrete mental representa-

tions in planning remedial behaviors and cognitive tendencies

toward concrete thinking stemming from the low literacy and

low income may combine to lead to the predominance of fea-

sibility rather than desirability of remedial actions. Noteworthy

here is the chronic and overwhelming nature of low-quality

environments in subsistence coupled with individual level

constraints. This may lead people to reject goals seemingly

difficult to achieve (Freitas, Gollwitzer, and Trope 2004; Trope

and Liberman 2010), in turn engendering shortsightedness,

inefficacy, and inaction. The extreme constraints that people

experience in subsistence marketplaces may inhibit them from

exercising their agency to translate their motivation to act

against environmental risks into actual behaviors.

Taken together, these considerations argue against eco-

psychological findings in resource-rich settings that people

have greater behavioral intentions for remedial actions when

environmental risks are psychologically proximal. For exam-

ple, low levels of psychological distances (greater proximity)

have been found to be associated with an increase in concern

for climate change (Spence, Poortinga, and Pidgeon, 2012).

Rather, as our data suggest, coping takes the form of small

solutions in one’s own home (i.e., the immediate environment),

to try to minimize the harmful effects of the immediate and

near (i.e., local environment) in a small way. When feasibility

dominates the evaluation of actions at a near distance with

overwhelming lack of control, it may lower behavioral inten-

tions, while actually increasing such intentions for more distant

psychologically distant phenomena (e.g., global warming).

The farther rather than closer psychological distance of

environmental risks may be central to increasing subsistence

individuals’ engagement in remedial actions. Level of control

and associated efficacy is, thus, an important variable to con-

sider for immediate, near and distant environments on the spa-

tial dimension. The growth motivation for subsistence contexts

and the overwhelming challenges with the local environment

and the lack of control over it in immediate and near distances

may lead to a greater motivation to act for farther distances then

for those in resource-rich contexts.

Discussion

Our micro-level research provides the foundation for a number

of macro-level implications that are firmly rooted in the mate-

rial and psychological realities of subsistence marketplaces. Our

delineation of different spatial distances and dimensions of

psychological distances, and associated motivation and control,

offers a more nuanced view to explain the complex behaviors

observed in subsistence marketplaces in connection with the

environment. This differs starkly from broad generalizations

found in the literature from some decades ago that characterize

this population as merely survival-focused and short-term

oriented (Lewis 1966). Whereas people in subsistence market-

places are more likely to act on their immediate needs (Viswa-

nathan 2011), this does not suggest that only one simple

dimension exists, or that individuals in subsistence market-

places fail to see farther distances. As with other settings, differ-

ent spatial dimensions exist in subsistence marketplaces and

often interact with one another (Viswanathan et al. 2012). In

light of the complex relationship between different motivations

at varying distances and their consequent actions, macromark-

eters and policymakers need to recognize and address each of

the levels of spatial distance as well as the various dimensions

of psychological distance and their interactions.

Despite resource constraints, people do not make decisions

based solely on the immediate and the economically beneficial,

but consider conflicting motivations at different spatial dis-

tances. But they are often only able to act at the immediate

level due to bare survival necessities and lack of control over

farther distances. However, in making impossible trade-offs,

people still strive to keep certain domains, such as children’s

education, in the set of choices that cannot be compromised.

Even under resource constraints, people plan for the future

through sacrifices and investments at immediate distance.

Environmental sustainability does not necessarily come at

the cost of immediate economic gains. Whereas a growing

population and scant material resources often lead people to

consume in unsustainable ways for survival, they realize the

value of environmental sustainability and are able to make

decisions that create synergy between economic gains and sus-

tainability at the immediate and to a lesser extent near dis-

tances. In the following sub-sections, we develop specific

implications of this research for macromarketers.

Bottom-Up Orientation. In this research, we adopt a bottom-up

approach in studying the relationship between poverty and the

environment with an emphasis on consumption and conserva-

tion exemplified in the subsistence marketplaces literature

(Viswanathan et al. 2012). Macro-economic approaches focus

on structural issues and highlight broad relationship patterns

(Vu 2010). Our bottom-up method complements these studies

by focusing on the nuanced interplay between psychological

and ecological factors for consumption and conservation in

contexts of poverty. The literature on ecology highlights the

importance of reciprocal interactions between humans, the

local setting, and the broader social context (Bronfenbrenner

1977). Our bottom-up approach captures the contextually

embedded nature of behavior in poverty and advances under-

standing that is firmly rooted in the everyday reality of individ-

uals living in poverty. Prior research on poverty has

underscored the importance of obtaining a deep understanding

of the life circumstances of individuals and the broader socio-




cultural context in which they operate (Viswanathan et al.

2012).

Research in cross-cultural psychology has highlighted

differences in the cognitive predilections of individuals from

different cultures. For example, Nisbett et al. (2001) find that

individuals from diverse cultures not only differ in their

beliefs, but also in their information processing strategies.

This stream of literature has furthered our collective under-

standing of psychological factors across cultures and has also

enriched existing theories. The authors maintain that socio-

cognitive systems of thought capture the influence of social

factors on cognition. A similar argument could be advanced

for ‘‘econo-cognitive’’ systems of thought where cognition

differs across economic strata, as well as across different

interactions with the environment.

Community Empowerment and Education. We argue that, in

subsistence, the perceived level of control will diminish at a

rapid rate with increases in perceived spatial distances. This

decrease in level of control could curtail proactive measures

to nourish or preserve the environment, especially at the near

and societal levels. Prior research has shown perceived level

of control to be an important factor in exercising human agency

(Bandura 1986). Consequently, we argue that empowering

local communities to participate in decision-making about the

management of their own environmental resources will

enhance outcomes.

In her book, Governing the Commons, Elinor Ostrom (1990)

enumerates instances ranging from communal tenure systems

in Switzerland to irrigation communities in Philippines where

collective management of common environmental resources

has worked. However, empowering decision making should

be coupled with environmental literacy programs at the com-

munity level, which focus not only on strategies for preserving

or nurturing the environment, but also on the more abstract

questions of ‘‘why’’ it is important to preserve or nurture the

environment. Such literacy programs can spawn from colla-

borations between governmental, business, and civil society

organizations (Selsky and Parker 2005). These cross-sector

social partnerships, or CSSPs, can assist in creating an under-

standing of ‘‘why’’ nurturing the environment is critical. Span-

ning different distances, the ‘‘why’’ is fundamentally difficult

for low-literate individuals to grasp given their tendency toward

concrete thinking, accentuated by the need to survive the imme-

diate time-frame. Prior research on subsistence consumers and

entrepreneurs reveals the challenge faced by subsistence entre-

preneurs and consumers to focus on abstract ‘‘why’’ questions

as opposed to the more concrete ‘‘how’’ questions (Viswanathan

et al. 2009), arguing for the need to concretize, localize, and

socialize education. Based on our findings, we argue that

empowering the community to have a say in managing their own

environmental resources coupled with community level environ-

mental literacy programs focusing on both the ‘‘how’’ and

‘‘why’’ of environmental sustainability will go a long way in

enhancing the collective efficacy of the community in managing

their environment.

Local Solutions. Our research captures multifarious, locally

evolved practices, such as reuse, recycle, cross-use, making,

foregoing, and harvesting. These locally sustainable practices

are important sources of learning for designing solutions for

environmental preservation in subsistence marketplaces. Local

solutions work because they are harmonious with the material

and socio-cultural realities of poor communities. Consequently,

systematic efforts on the part of macromarketers to understand

and promote local solutions could have far-reaching impact.

This strategy of harnessing innovative practices evolved by the

community could go hand-in-hand with the more top-down sys-

tem level solutions suggested in the literature. The diversity of

subsistence marketplaces across geographies poses daunting

challenges in understanding contextual specificities and design-

ing relevant solutions. In a seminal article, Hayek (1945) argues

the impossibility of obtaining specific knowledge on the part of

centralized entities and advocates more decentralized decision-

making. In a similar vein, we propose viewing communities as

equal partners in addressing environmental problems. Such a

mindset of mutual learning in subsistence marketplaces has also

been advocated in the context of business solutions (Viswa-

nathan et al. 2012).

Ameliorating Survival Pressures. Our model emphasizes the cen-

trality of survival pressures on subsistence environmental

decision-making. Consequently, when faced with severe sur-

vival pressures environmental concerns could be relegated in

importance. Macromarketers can play an important role in

designing solutions that ameliorate the survival pressures faced

by the poor and thereby alter the nature of trade-offs. More

specifically, such outcomes could be achieved by designing

business models that reduce the financial risk to which the poor

are exposed. In the context of agriculture, where subsistence

farmers are exposed to a high degree of risk due to the vagaries

of weather conditions, crop insurance could significantly reduce

the financial threats they face. Catastrophic risk is an important

determinant of decision-making in these contexts. Subsistence

farmers are known to resort to several risk-mitigating strategies

including crop diversification, under-investment in risky modern

inputs, and livestock enterprises. The development economics

literature also underscores the importance of solutions such as

crop insurance and access to financing in reducing the risk faced

by subsistence farmers (Townsend 1995). Given the importance

of risk exposure, the challenge for macromarketers is to develop

business models for risk mitigating solutions that are accessible,

affordable, and relevant in subsistence marketplaces. In this

regard, the subsistence marketplaces literature proposes a

number of strategies for macromarketers to design products and

solutions for the low-income markets (see Viswanathan and

Sridharan 2012).

From Trade-offs to Synergies among Survival, Relatedness andGrowth. Our research shows that people in subsistence market-

places understand the importance of their relationships with oth-

ers and the environment in order to bolster their survival both in

the short- and long-terms. They also grasp the importance of




growth to improve quality of life for themselves and the next

generation. However, given imminent threats to survival, they

often make trade-offs among survival, relatedness, and growth,

engaging in behaviors that erode community and employ

resources unsustainably. These trade-off relationships pose a

dilemma that practitioners in business, government, and social

enterprises must address. How can practitioners use macromar-

keting insights to help the poor survive without compromising

relatedness and growth? On one hand, if there exists a false

trade-off due to shortsighted valuing the present over the future,

solutions can focus on education to enable people in subsistence

marketplaces to view relationships among survival, relatedness

and growth from a long-term perspective and understand syner-

gistic relationships. On the other hand, if trade-offs are inevitable,

researchers and practitioners should understand the complexity

and interconnectedness of issues of survival, relatedness, and

growth as a basis to design and implement solutions that minimize

negative outcomes.

In conclusion, our bottom-up study of micro-behavioral

issues at the intersection of poverty and the environment

provides unique insights on the interplay between spatial and

psychological distances in real and perceived environmental

challenges, the nature of coping strategies in arenas of suste-

nance, and outcomes in terms of perceived efficacy and moti-

vation to action. In turn, these issues provide rich insights for

designing macro-level policy and solutions. For instance, a

bottom-up notion of sustainability that is grounded in field

research, leads to the tensions and synergies between surviving,

relating, and growing. In contrast, a top-down notion of people,

planet, and profit would lack the granularity and grounding to

both understand the phenomenon from the appropriate vantage

point and detail, and to provide a basis for designing solutions

in terms of broad outlines as well as specificity.

Research Limitations

The fieldwork for this research was conducted in rural and

urban Tamil Nadu, India, in order to capture both commonal-

ities and differences across rural and urban contexts. The num-

ber of informants was small, with relatively fewer interviews in

rural settings. We adopted an emic perspective on issues of sus-

tainability in subsistence contexts, examining a phenomenon as

an interconnected whole, as opposed to an etic perspective,

which attempts to understand a phenomenon as relationships

between constructs isolated by the researcher (Morris et al.

1999). Our motivation, as evidenced by the bottom-up orienta-

tion, has been to explore the issue of sustainability from the

participant’s perspective, privileging the meaning participants

confer to their realities and the responses that are thereby

evoked (McCaslin and Scott 2003). Although an emic perspec-

tive enables us to study the phenomenon embedded within

socio-cultural and historical factors, we acknowledge that sub-

sistence contexts across geographies could vary on factors such

as social stratification, inter-group relations, and political

stability, as noted in prior research (Viswanathan 2010). Our

objective with this study is not to draw broad generalizations, but

on the contrary, to advance a well-rooted conceptualization of

sustainability in subsistence marketplaces as an interconnected

whole, which supplements the reductionist approaches prevalent

in the literature. Consequently, despite being embedded within

contextual peculiarities, our research design and perspective

serves our goals for this research.

Another limitation was the exclusion of other stakeholders,

such as non-profit organizations and governmental entities,

as informants. Such triangulated data would enable a fuller

picture of the phenomenon. Our goal, given a bottom-up focus,

was to begin with those who survive and subsist in these envir-

onments. However, future research should explore other sources

of data as well.

Future Research

Our research uncovers many areas that future research should

investigate. First, we offer a broad picture of how individuals

in subsistence marketplaces negotiate the tradeoffs associated

with environmental sustainability, survival, growth, and relat-

edness needs. Our analysis provides a broad psychological

framework to examine specific and substantive issues such as

pollution and health, irrigation and food security, climate

change, and livelihood. These issues are of prime concern to

the wellbeing of individuals in subsistence marketplaces and

research focused on these specific domains can inform both

theory and practice by shedding greater light on behavioral

determinants. Second, our research offers preliminary insights

into the processes adopted by individuals in subsistence to

navigate the real and immediate threats posed by environmen-

tal challenges. Process research investigating the sequence of

activities employed by individuals to address environmental

challenges will further deepen our understanding and offer rich

insights for studying more affluent contexts where environ-

mental challenges are more distant and abstract. Third, our

research has focused on individuals in subsistence and individ-

ual psychological tendencies in relation to the environment.

Prior research on subsistence marketplaces offers many insights

on how individuals overcome constraints, both individual, con-

straints such as access to capital, and contextual, such as infra-

structure (Viswanathan et al. 2010, 2012). Whereas our

research focused on consumption and conservation, a focus on

marketplace interactions relating to the environment would

uncover tensions and synergies between the one-to-one intensely

social marketplace interactions and environmental elements.

Consequently, research focused on the role of subsistence mar-

ketplace exchange in addressing the environmental challenges

promises to be a rich area of future inquiry. In this regard, a focus

on dependent variables such as purchase intention and relation-

ship endurance would be very useful. Fourth, as pointed out in

the research limitations section, more comparative research

across subsistence marketplaces in emerging contexts such

as Asia and Africa, and in subsistence marketplaces within

developed contexts such as United States and Europe, will

go a long way in furthering our understanding of the role

played by socio-cultural and political factors in influencing




the human-environment nexus. In conclusion, a bottom-up

approach to developing micro-level behavioral insights pro-

vides a basis to derive macromarketing implications of conse-

quence to researchers and practitioners.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to

the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, author-

ship, and/or publication of this article.

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Author Biographies

Madhu Viswanathan is the Diane and Steven N. Miller Professor in

Business, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He earned a B.

Tech (Mech. Engg, IIT, Madras, 1985), and a PhD (Marketing, Univer-

sity of Minnesota, 1990). His research and teaching are on measurement/

research methods, and literacy, poverty, and subsistence marketplaces.

He founded the Subsistence Marketplaces Initiative (www.business.illi-

nois.edu/subsistence), creating unique synergies between research,

teaching, and social initiatives, and the Marketplace Literacy Project

(www.marketplaceliteracy.org), a non-profit providing marketplace

literacy education to low-income consumers and subsistence market-

places. He has received research, teaching, curriculum development,

social entrepreneurship, humanitarian, leadership, public engagement,

international achievement, and career achievement awards.

Kiju Jung is a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois, Urbana-

Champaign. His interests are in sustainability, consumer well-being,

and consumer behavior. He focuses on understanding how to embed

sustainability into human consumption practices. Additionally, Kiju

aims to explore human functioning and remedy human ill-being in sub-

sistence marketplaces using socio-psychological lenses. He also focuses

on the effects of power and gender in human interactions and in human-

nonhuman interactions in the context of consumption and survival.

Srinivas Venugopal is pursuing his doctoral degree in marketing at

the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and has a background

in social entrepreneurship. Srini’s research interests lie in the area of

poverty and sustainability. He explores poverty at the individual and

social level. At the individual level, Srini explores the impact of

resource constraints and uncertainty on consumer motivation, cogni-

tion, and behavior. At the societal level, he investigates the emergence

of business ecosystems in subsistence marketplaces.

Ishva Minefee is a doctoral student in International Business at the

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research emphasizes

the influence of role models in new venture creation in subsistence

contexts. Additionally, he focuses on how nongovernmental organiza-

tions interact with communities and enact social change in poverty

settings. Ishva does work in a comparative, cross-country setting to

create deeper insights into global phenomena.

In Woo Jung graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign with a B.A. in Global Studies. He is currently pursuing a

Masters in Public Administration at the London School of Economics

and Political Science with a concentration in public policy and manage-

ment. His research interests include marginalized persons, community

and economic development, and human motivations and behavior.



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subsistence and sustainability

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