Understandings of sufficiency: A phenomenography on the sufficiency movement in Finland

Sufficiency is increasingly recognised as necessary to address the environmental crises, yet the concept still lacks clarity. Given the importance of a strong public opinion prioritising environmental concerns, I study understandings of sufficiency in an environmental movement context. I build on recent studies calling for further empirical research, noting that an environmental movement perspective is rare in sufficiency studies. This article aims to clarify understandings of sufficiency in the Finnish sufficiency movement ‘Kohtuusliike’. For that purpose, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 persons active in the movement and analysed the interviews utilising a phenomenographic approach. The main findings include four understandings of sufficiency: as (a) a necessity (material and mental), (b) an analytical tool (criticism and advocacy), (c) reframing change and (d) compromising action. My main contribution is having conducted the first study on sufficiency understandings in an environmental movement context, presenting a broad and systematic approach to sufficiency, including bringing up a sufficiency dimension that seems to have gained little attention in previous studies: nature relation. I conclude by suggesting that the derived understandings support clarifying the sufficiency concept, including operationalising sufficiency more broadly in an environmental movement context concerned with environmental and social boundaries. In a broader social–ecological transformation perspective, the study focuses on persons that can be characterised as sufficiency role models in an affluent country context.