scholarly journals Environmental Expertise as Group Belonging

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolf Lidskog ◽  
Göran Sundqvist
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Professional Socialization ◽  
Environmental Sociology ◽  
Social Recognition ◽  
Risk Society ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
General View ◽  
Production Risk ◽  
Treadmill Of Production ◽  
Group Belonging

What is environmental expertise? The background to this question is that many scholars consider environmental expertise crucial for discovering, diagnosing, and solving environmental problems but do not discuss in any depth what constitutes expertise. By investigating the meaning and use of the concept of expertise in three general theories within environmental sociology—the treadmill of production, risk society, and ecological modernization— and findings from science and technology studies (STS), this article develops a sociological understanding of environmental expertise: what it is and how it is acquired. Environmental expertise is namely about group belonging and professional socialization around specialized skills; that is, it concerns both substantial competence and social recognition. The implications of this general view on expertise are then used to enrich theories in environmental sociology.

scholarly journals Social inequalities and environmental conflict

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (25) ◽  
pp. 15-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
David N. Pellow
Keyword(s):  
Residential Segregation ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Environmental Conflict ◽  
Risk Society ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
Environmental Racism ◽  
Communities Of Color ◽  
Treadmill Of Production ◽  
Social Scientific

This paper is organized around two points. The first concerns the literature on environmental justice (EJ) studies and its lack of incorporation of social scientific theories and concepts concerning racism. This is surprising, given EJ studies' strong interest in challenging a form of racism - environmental racism. This, in turn, allows for a critique of theories of racism for their lack of attention to the ways in which society-environment relations structure racist practices and discourses, and a critique of scholars who have understated the continuing impact of racism on communities of color. The second point concerns the degree to which modernization has led to an improvement in the environmental impacts associated with market economies and their production systems. Drawing on ecological modernization, risk society, and the treadmill of production theories, I argue that, as with popular and scholarly views on racism, many scholars have overstated the level of progress society has made on this front. I also argue that this is largely because - via practices such as environmental racism and globalization - many of the worst dimensions of the market economy's externalities are out of sight and out of mind (due largely to spatial and residential segregation and international hazardous waste exports), making it possible to either ignore or dismiss claims to the contrary.

Capitalism and Sustainability: An Exploratory Content Analysis of Frameworks in Environmental Political Economy

2021 ◽  
pp. 232949652110435
Author(s):  
Timothy P. Clark ◽  
Andrew R. Smolski ◽  
Jason S. Allen ◽  
John Hedlund ◽  
Heather Sanchez
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Environmental Sociology ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
Risk Society ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Environmental Instability ◽  
The Relationship

A critical divide within environmental sociology concerns the relationship between capitalism and the environment. Risk society and ecological modernization scholars advance a concept of reflexive political economy, arguing that capitalism will transition from a dirty, industrial stage to a green, eco-friendly stage. In contrast, critical political economy scholars suggest that the core imperatives of capitalist accumulation are fundamentally unsustainable. We conduct a content analysis of 136 journal articles to assess how these frameworks have been implemented in empirical studies. Our analysis provides important commentary about the mechanisms, agents, magnitude, scale, temporality, and outcomes these frameworks analyze and employ, and the development of a hybrid perspective that borrows from both these perspectives. In addition, we reflect on how and why reflexive political economy has not answered key challenges leveled in the early 21st century, mainly the disconnect between greening values and the ongoing coupling of economic growth and environmental destruction. We also reflect on the significance of critical political economy, as the only framework we study that provides analysis of the roots of ecological crisis. Finally, we comment on the emergent hybrid perspective as a framework that attempts to reconcile new socioecological configurations in an era of increasing environmental instability.

scholarly journals Global food systems in the post-coronavirus era

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Chiles
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Environmental Sociology ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
Global Food System ◽  
Treadmill Of Production ◽  
And Shifts ◽  
Global Food ◽  
Rare Opportunity

Coronavirus is currently dealing a concussive blow to global food systems, but this crisis could also present a rare opportunity to uncover and address longstanding social and environmental problems. The purpose of this paper is to shed additional light on this rapidly developing situation by (i) outlining the vulnerabilities and inequities in the global food system that have been exposed by the coronavirus, (ii) identifying the emergent sociotechnical shifts that have occurred in the initial stages of the post-coronavirus era, and then (iii) interpreting these vulnerabilities, inequities, and shifts from the standpoint of two key theories in environmental sociology: the treadmill of production and ecological modernization.

Uneven Decoupling

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 410-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan P. Thombs ◽  
Xiaorui Huang
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Data Limitations ◽  
Treadmill Of Production ◽  
Global North ◽  
Organization Of Production ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Over Time

The macro-comparative decoupling literature has often sought to test the arguments made by the treadmill of production (TP) and ecological modernization (EM) theories. However, due to data limitations, these studies have been limited to analyzing the years after 1960. Given that both theories discuss historical processes operating before 1960, analyzing pre-1960 data is warranted to more comprehensively test the propositions made by both theories. We assess the long-term relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions from 1870 to 2014 using a sample of global North nations. We use Prais-Winsten regression models with time interactions to assess whether, when, and how much CO2 emissions have decoupled from economic growth over time. We find that significant relative decoupling has occurred twice since 1870: during the last 30 years of the nineteenth century, the timing of which is contrary to what both the EM and TP theories might expect, and after 1970. We also observe that the relationship remained relatively stable from the turn of the twentieth century to approximately 1970, which aligns with the arguments made by the classical TP work. We conclude that shifts in the global organization of production have shaped the magnitude of the economic growth–CO2 emissions relationship and its changes over time, which has implications for climate mitigation policy.

Ecological Modernization, Risk Society, and The Green State

2020 ◽  
pp. 226-253
Author(s):  
John S. Dryzek ◽  
David Downes ◽  
Christian Hunold ◽  
David Schlosberg ◽  
Hans-Kristian Hernes
Keyword(s):  
Risk Society ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
Green State

scholarly journals Ecological Modernization and the Global Economy

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur P. J. Mol
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Environmental Movement ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
The World ◽  
Treadmill Of Production ◽  
Countervailing Powers ◽  
Environmental Reform

This paper explores what an ecological modernization perspective has to offer in an era marked by globalization. Globalization processes and dynamics are mostly seen as detrimental to the environment. The point that an ecological modernization perspective puts on the research agenda is that, although global capitalism has not been beaten and continues to show its devastating environmental effects in all corners of the world, we are moving beyond the era of a global treadmill of production that only further degrades the environment. More or less powerful, reflexive, countervailing powers are beginning to move towards environmental reform. And these powers are no longer limited to a small environmental movement that only reacts to the constant undermining of society's sustenance base. In analyzing these countervailing forces, the paper also explores the consequences of globalization processes for ecological modernization ideas and perspectives.

scholarly journals Environmental Concern in a Capitalist Economy: Climate Change Perception Among U.S. Specialty-Crop Producers

2020 ◽  
pp. 108602661989754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yetkin Borlu ◽  
Leland Glenna
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Specialty Crop ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Treadmill Of Production

The agricultural sector offers a unique opportunity to examine the topic of climate change because agriculture is more susceptible to climate disruptions than many other industrial sectors. Based on the analysis of the survey data and in-depth interviews with specialty-crop producers in California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, we test the capacity of ecological modernization and treadmill of production perspectives to explain how resource-intensive producers recognize water availability and climate change as threats to their operation’s economic viability. We find that producers in capitalist markets recognize natural resource problems; however, they fail to respond to climate change beyond natural resource problems. We also find that local markets play a positive role in raising environmental awareness of producers. Finally, our finding on the association between the perceptions of water availability and climate change goes beyond the treadmill of production dualism that only theorizes the impacts of economic factors on the environment.

scholarly journals Hollow Ecology: Ecological Modernization Theory and the Death of Nature

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Ewing
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sociology ◽  
Feedback Loops ◽  
Ecological Rationality ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
Modernization Theory ◽  
World Systems ◽  
World Systems Theory ◽  
Capitalist World ◽  
Ecological Modernization Theory ◽  
Political Economic

The last few decades have seen the rise of ‘ecological modernization theory’ (EMT) as a “green capitalist” tradition extending modernization theory into environmental sociology. This article uses a synthesis of political economy, world-systems theory, and political, economic, and environmental sociology to demonstrate that the EMT presumption of growth and profit as economic priorities (alongside its neglect of core-periphery relations) produces many feedback loops which fatally undermine the viability of EMT’s own political, technological, and social prescriptions, alongside creating problems for the fundamental EMT concept of ‘ecological rationality.’ Furthermore, this article attempts to explain why “green capitalist” approaches to environmental analysis have influence within policy and social science circles despite their inadequacies within environmental sociology. Finally, this article argues that in order to address the ecological challenges of our era, environmental sociology needs to reject “green capitalist” traditions like ‘ecological modernization theory’ which presuppose the desirability and maintenance of profit and growth as economic priorities (and predominantly fail to critique power imbalances between core and non-core nations), and instead return to the development of traditions willing to critique the fundamental traits of the capitalist world-system.

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