ABSTRACT
In the early industrialized countries, it is barely possible to raise subjective well-being through increases in material wealth. Within the context of a cultural transformation towards a post-growth society, therefore, people should be supported in developing their own internal psychological resources for ensuring subjective well-being independent of material wealth. To foster this, insights from positive psychology, environmental psychology, socio-ecological research and resource-oriented counselling are brought together. Against this background six psychological resources are identified, which can support a cultural transformation towards sustainable lifestyles: the capacity for pleasure, self-acceptance, self-efficacy, mindfulness, the construction of meaning and solidarity. The six psychological resources can be strengthened through targeted measures in different applications such as health promotion programmes or counselling and coaching settings. They can also be supported in different organizational or institutional settings such as schools, higher education institutes, firms, non-profit organizations or in the communities of urban quarters. The chapter sets an analytically driven focus on the individual level as starting point for a cultural transformation towards sustainable lifestyles.
