Inescapable Path Dependency and Unbreakable Barriers: The Overpowering Presence of Capitalism in Sustainability Transformation by Janne J. Salovaara and Sophia Hagolani-Albov
Abstract This paper is a contribution to a philosophical dialogue on the sustainability transformation, motivated by our observations of the modern world, wherein sustainability discourses often centre on transformation as a goal without critically examining
where that transformation needs to occur. The continued seeming inability to achi-
eve sustainable transformation seems to root in the very fabric of how the capitalist system operates. Trying to achieve sustainability within a system that has an oppo-
sing intent seems unable to produce transformation. The tension within sustainability transformation is described herein as a battle between truth and power and a threat to society’s ability to reimagine itself out of this path-dependent development, and thus requiring true autonomy, modernity, and civility. Through negative loops, such as
accepting the normalisation of unsustainability as sustainability and taking path-de-
pendency as inescapable, the narration of the inability to change becomes reality.
