Ančić, Branko and Puđak, Jelena and Domazet, Mladen and Cik, Tomislav (2025) Rethinking socio-ecological resilience: lessons from the COVID-19 and the Degrowth Donut Model. Sociologija i prostor, 63 (2). pp. 313-339. ISSN 1846-5226 (Print), 1849-0387 (Online)
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Abstract
IN ENGLISH: This article develops a socio-ecological understanding of societal resilience by situating COVID-19 pandemic responses within broader configurations of cultural orientations, social foundations, and socio-metabolic pressures. Building on resilience debates from ecology and the social sciences, the paper argues that resilience cannot be reduced to “bounce-back” capacity or institutional preparedness alone, because societies may be resilient in undesirable states and because short-term crisis performance can coexist with long-term ecological vulnerability. To operationalise this perspective, the study applies a degrowth-based socio-ecological doughnut (“degrowth donut”) framework that maps countries’ positions relative to a safe and just operating space. Using a theory-driven comparative design, the analysis examines five European countries—Austria, Croatia, Germany, Italy, and Spain—through a selected subset of 18 indicators drawn from biophysical ceilings, socio-metabolic throughput, and cultural–institutional and social foundation dimensions. Results indicate that variation in pandemic performance aligns most clearly with differences in cultural and social foundation indicators (e.g., perceived democratic deficit, life satisfaction, health perception, and social equality), while countries showing stronger short-term pandemic performance often exhibit greater biophysical overshoot (notably CO₂ emissions and material use). The findings highlight a structural paradox at the centre of contemporary resilience debates: immediate adaptive capacity may be enabled by socio-metabolic regimes that undermine long-term socio-ecological stability. The paper concludes that the degrowth donut offers a heuristic, constraint-based tool for comparative resilience assessment that foregrounds trade-offs and supports a shift from crisis management toward deliberate socio-ecological transformation. --------------- IN CROATIAN: Ovaj rad razvija socio-ekološko razumijevanje društvene otpornosti smještajući odgovore na pandemiju bolesti COVID-19 u šire konfiguracije kulturnih orijentacija, društvenih temelja i socio-metaboličkih pritisaka. Nadovezujući se na rasprave o otpornosti u ekologiji i društvenim znanostima, rad argumentira da se otpornost ne može svesti isključivo na sposobnost „povratka u prijašnje stanje“ niti na institucionalnu spremnost, budući da društva mogu biti otporna i u nepoželjnim stanjima, te da kratkoročna uspješnost u kriznim situacijama može koegzistirati s dugoročnom ekološkom ranjivošću. Kako bi operacionalizirao ovu perspektivu, rad primjenjuje socio-ekološki model odrasničke krafne („degrowth donut“), koji mapira položaje država u odnosu na siguran i pravedan prostor djelovanja. Koristeći teorijski utemeljen komparativni dizajn, analiza obuhvaća pet europskih zemalja — Austriju, Hrvatsku, Njemačku, Italiju i Španjolsku — kroz odabrani skup od 18 indikatora koji proizlaze iz biofizičkih granica, sociometaboličkog protoka te kulturno-institucionalnih i društvenih dimenzija. Rezultati pokazuju da se razlike u uspješnosti odgovora na pandemiju najjasnije povezuju s razlikama u kulturnim i društvenim indikatorima (primjerice percipirani demokratski deficit, zadovoljstvo životom, percepcija zdravlja i društvena jednakost), dok zemlje s boljim kratkoročnim pandemijskim ishodima često istodobno bilježe veći biofizički prekoračaj, osobito u pogledu emisija CO₂ i materijalne potrošnje. Nalazi upućuju na strukturni paradoks u središtu suvremenih rasprava o otpornosti: neposredna sposobnost prilagodbe može biti omogućena socio-metaboličkim režimima koji dugoročno narušavaju socio-ekološku stabilnost. Rad zaključuje da odrasnička krafna predstavlja heuristički alat za komparativnu procjenu otpornosti, koji osvjetljava nužne kompromisne odnose i podupire pomak od upravljanja krizama prema promišljenoj socioekološkoj transformaciji.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information: | Language: English. - Title in Croatian: Preispitivanje socio-ekološke otpornosti: pouke iz pandemije COVID-19 i modela odrasničke krafne. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Social resilience, socio-ecological systems, COVID-19, degrowth, doughnut model, safe and just operating space, socio-metabolism, cultural orientations (društvena otpornost, socio-ekološki sustavi, COVID-19, odrast, model krafne, siguran i pravedan prostor djelovanja, socio-metabolizam, kulturne orijentacije) |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) |
| Depositing User: | Karolina |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Dec 2025 10:08 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Dec 2025 10:08 |
| URI: | http://idiprints.knjiznica.idi.hr/id/eprint/1263 |
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