Environmental Sociology: From Analysis to Action, 2nd Edition

495 Pages·2009·2.8 MB·English

by  Leslie King

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Environmental
Sociology

Environmental
Sociology
From Analysis
to Action
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Edited by Leslie King
and Deborah McCarthy
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS,INC.
Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth,UK
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS,INC.
Published in the United States ofAmerica
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,Inc.
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Copyright © 2009 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,Inc.
All rights reserved.No part ofthis publication may be reproduced,stored in a
retrieval system,or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic,mechani-
cal,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,without the prior permission ofthe
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Environmental sociology :from analysis to action / edited by Leslie King and
Deborah McCarthy.-- 2nd ed.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13:978-0-7425-5908-0 (cloth :alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-7425-5908-4 (cloth :alk.paper)
ISBN-13:978-0-7425-5909-7 (pbk.:alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-7425-5909-2 (pbk.:alk.paper)
[etc.]
1. Environmentalism--Social aspects.2. Environmental justice.3.
Environmentalism--North America. I.King,Leslie,1959- II.McCarthy,Deborah,
1966-
GE195.E588 2009
333.72--dc22
2009000697
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
(cid:2)™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence ofPaper for
Printed Library Materials,ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
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Contents
Preface ix
Introduction:Environmental Problems Require Social Solutions 1
Deborah McCarthy and Leslie King
PART I
Political Economy
1. The Vulnerable Planet 25
John Bellamy Foster
2. Mountaintop Removal in West Virginia: 38
An Environmental Sacrifice Zone
Julia Fox
3. Treadmill Predispositions and Social Responses: 51
Population,Consumption,and Technological Change
Allan Schnaiberg and Kenneth Alan Gould
PART II
Environmental Justice:
Race,Class,and Gender
4. Environmental Justice:Grassroots Activism and Its 63
Impact on Public Policy Decision Making
Robert D.Bullard and Glenn S.Johnson
v
vi
CONTENTS
5. Turning Public Issues into Private Troubles:Lead 80
Contamination,Domestic Labor,and the Exploitation of
Women’s Unpaid Labor in Australia
Lois Bryson,Kathleen McPhillips,and Kathryn Robinson
6. The Next Revolutionary Stage:Recycling Waste or 93
Recycling History?
David N.Pellow
PART III
The Social Construction of Nature
7. Wild Horses and the Political Ecology ofNature Restoration 111
in the Missouri Ozarks
J.Sanford Rikoon
8. Touch the Magic 128
Susan G.Davis
PART IV
Corporate Responsibility
9. Silent Spill:The Organization ofan Industrial Crisis 149
Thomas D.Beamish
10. Corporate Responsibility for Toxins 164
Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner
PART V
Globalization
11. The Unfair Trade-off:Globalization and the Export of 181
Ecological Hazards
Daniel Faber
12. Driving South:The Globalization ofAuto Consumption and 200
Its Social Organization ofSpace
Peter Freund and George Martin
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CONTENTS
PART VI
Media and Popular Culture
13. Selling “Mother Earth”:Advertising and the Myth 215
ofthe Natural
Robin Andersen
14. Prime-Time Subversion:The Environmental Rhetoric of 230
The Simpsons
Anne Marie Todd
PART VII
Science,Risk,and Health
15. Science in Environmental Conflicts 247
Connie P.Ozawa
16. An Ounce ofPrecaution 260
Nelta Edwards
17. Risk Society and Contested Illness:The Case ofNuclear 268
Weapons Workers
Sherry Cable,Thomas E.Shriver,and Tamara L.Mix
18. The Social Construction ofCancer:A Walk Upstream 287
Sandra Steingraber
PART VIII
Social Movements
19. American Environmentalism:The Role ofRace,Class,and 307
Gender in Shaping Activism 1820–1995
Dorceta E.Taylor
20. Coalition Building between Native American and 327
Environmental Organizations in Opposition to
Development:The Case ofthe New Los Padres
Dam Project
Mik Moore
vviiiiii
CCOONNTTEENNTTSS
21. “People Want to Protect Themselves a Little Bit”:Emotions, 350
Denial,and Social Movement Nonparticipation
Kari Marie Norgaard
PART IX
Thinking about Change/Working for Change
22. Individualization:Plant a Tree,Buy a Bike,Save the World? 371
Michael Maniates
23. Cleaning the Closet:Toward a New Fashion Ethic 396
Juliet Schor
24. Greetings from the Non-Barcode People 408
Michael Pollan
25. Healing the Rift:Metabolic Restoration in Cuban Agriculture 425
Rebecca Clausen
26. On the Trail ofCourageous Behavior 438
Myron Peretz Glazer and Penina Migdal Glazer
Index 455
About the Editors 481
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Preface
W
eboth strongly believe that humans have come to a turning point in
terms ofour destruction ofecological resources and endangerment
ofhuman health.A daily look at the major newspapers points,with-
out fail,to worsening environmental problems (and sometimes,but not often
enough,a hopeful solution).Humans created these problems and we have the
power to resolve them.Naturally,the longer we wait,the more devastating the
problems will become;and the more we ignore the sociological dimensions of
environmental decline the more our proposed solutions will fail.
Out ofour concern for and dedication to bringing about a more sustain-
able future,we have both worked hard to develop environmental sociology
courses that not only educate students about environmental issues but also show
them their potential role as facilitators ofwell-informed change.This reader
results in large part from our commitment to the idea that sociology can be a
starting point for social change and we have sought to include in it work that
reflects our vision.
We actively looked for readings that interest,motivate,and make sense to
an undergraduate audience.Choosing which selections to include has been
exciting and thought provoking but not without a few dilemmas.We do not
include works published before about 1990.That choice sprang from our obser-
vation that undergraduate students tend to be more interested in current work.
In addition,several other good edited volumes and readers include the “clas-
sics,”so we did not see a need to reinvent the wheel.One ofour most difficult
decisions was to leave out many “big name”researchers who have profoundly
influenced the field.Some ofthis work represents a dialogue with a long and
intertwined body ofthought and research.Understanding such a dialogue would
require reading the lineage ofresearch leading up to it.In addition,much ofthe
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