Artikel
Societal dynamics of sustainability certification in Ghanaian cocoa producing communities: Assessing social cohesion effects and their implications for collective action
In the global cocoa-chocolate chain, sustainability certification became the most widely applied industry tool to respond to sustainability challenges, such as extreme poverty among cocoa producers, and related issues of child labor and deforestation. This contribution analyzes how sustainability certification shapes broader social dynamics in targeted communities by applying the concept of social cohesion. This framework allows for the discussion on the appropriateness of sustainability certification to foster the needed societal conditions for community empowerment and collective action, both of which often regarded as key for a broader sustainability transition. Insights from key informant interviews in two Ghanaian cocoa communities targeted by a Rainforest Alliance cocoa sustainability project indicate that there is an enhanced interaction between scheme participants leading to new ingroup-outgroup patterns among community members. Further, while some informal institutions and one particular societal group are negatively affected by the sustainability intervention, no broader effect on communities’ overall social cohesion was measured. Finally, despite contributing to the greening of cocoa production, certification implements measures that risk to hamper the spread of collective action and may dilute the “societal glue” in targeted communities.
- Language
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Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
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Journal: Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems ; ISSN: 2168-3573 ; Volume: 47 ; Year: 2023 ; Issue: 2 ; Pages: 212-238 ; Philadelphia, PA: Taylor & Francis
- Classification
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Landwirtschaft, Veterinärmedizin
- Subject
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sustainability certification
social cohesion
community empowerment
cocoa
Ghana
- Event
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Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
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Ollendorf, Franziska
Sieber, Stefan
Löhr, Katharina
- Event
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Veröffentlichung
- (when)
-
2023
- DOI
-
doi:10.1080/21683565.2022.2138671
- Handle
- Last update
-
10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET
Data provider
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Object type
- Artikel
Associated
- Ollendorf, Franziska
- Sieber, Stefan
- Löhr, Katharina
Time of origin
- 2023
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Societal dynamics of sustainability certification in Ghanaian cocoa producing communities : Assessing social cohesion effects and their implications for collective action
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