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Enabling Responsible Living pp 19–29Cite as

The Underrated Discipline

A Plea for Strengthening Home Economics

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Abstract

Home Economics has always been dealing with sustainable living and a responsible use of resources. Even though sustainability issues have attracted growing attention in academic research and society in recent years, home economics has hardly benefited from this increased interest. In the view of the author Home Economics is barely noticed in the international discourse on sustainability. Thus this article calls for more attention to the Home Economics discipline. At first, selected benefits of Home Economics for promoting sustainable living are illustrated. It is argued that Home Economics has distinctive qualities (e.g. its focus on resource management or on practical competences) that are missing in other disciplines. Second, the author reflects on possible reasons that might explain the scant recognition of Home Economics in the field of sustainability studies, particularly with regards to German Home Economics. At last, ideas for strengthening Home Economics are presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Economic Education and Sustainable Consumption, Technische Universität Berlin, Marchstraße 23, 10587, Berlin, Germany

    Viola Muster

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  1. Viola Muster
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Correspondence to Viola Muster .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Economic Education, Sustainable, TU Berlin, Marchstraße 23, Berlin, 10587, Germany

    Ulf Schrader

  2. , Economic Education and, TU Berlin, Marchstraße 23, Berlin, 10587, Germany

    Vera Fricke

  3. School of Business and Humanities, Institute of Technology Carlow, Kilkenny Road, Carlow, Ireland

    Declan Doyle

  4. University College of Hedmark, Postboks 40, Elverum, 2418, Norway

    Victoria W. Thoresen

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Muster, V. (2013). The Underrated Discipline. In: Schrader, U., Fricke, V., Doyle, D., Thoresen, V. (eds) Enabling Responsible Living. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22048-7_3

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