Exploring the bioeconomy as discourse: identifying archetypical bioeconomy discourses and the emergence of a transformative bioeconomy

The bioeconomy is a major concept in both academic and policy debates, but what it actually means remains diverse across contexts. In this integrative literature review, I explore different onto-epistemological positions, societal relations to nature, and moral assumptions within the bioeconomy discourse. Qualitative analysis indicates three coexisting “archetypical discourses” that share their interest in biobased resources and sustainability but differ significantly in their ecological boundaries, technological innovation, and societal integration. The Neoliberal Bioeconomy adapts the currently mainstreamed set of techno-economic paradigms for biobased resources and relies on a liberally governed free-market economy of growth and competition. The Ecological Bioeconomy debates a reconfiguration of the societal metabolism that will reintegrate human societies as a functional part of a self-regulating natural environment. The Transformative Bioeconomy explores the sociocultural dynamics of humans as nature, combining social and biophysical realities in a process-relational approach. Despite key differences in philosophical foundations and cultural dynamics among the archetypical discourses, the bioeconomy still serves as boundary object for a post-fossil future.