Ideology, Social Theory, and the EnvironmentDoes human population growth threaten the environment, or does it guarantee we will safeguard it? Is economic growth the key ecological problem, or is it in fact the solution? What will be the leading force to save the planet: civil society, government, or private enterprise? This book shows that these polemical debates are governed not so much by access to 'facts' as they are by the political ideology of the expert advancing a particular argument. Moreover, the thoughts of these experts tend to be based largely in just one of three competing streams of political thought: the left, the center, or the right. Drawing on social theory, the author explains the philosophical origins of this tendency to rely on just one of three traditions, and why this poses a serious obstacle to conceptualizing the cause, nature, and resolution of environmental problems. Sunderlin argues that laying the foundation for a livable world involves giving conscious and dedicated attention to the core tenets of all three political traditions: action against class inequality and advocacy of social justice within and among countries; reformation of laws and policies emanating from the halls of power and technological innovation in centers of research; and wholesale cultural change and promotion of individual initiative, responsibility, and creativity. |
Contents
Ideology Social Theory and Paradigms | 13 |
Human Evolution | 37 |
From Paradigm | 76 |
Copyright | |
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accumulation affluence Anderson and Leal antigrowth Beckerman believe billion Buttel capitalism capitalist century chapter class anti-Malthusianism class paradigm class perspective Competitive Enterprise Institute concept conflict consumption contemporary corporate cultural Daly debate deep ecology defined dematerialization demographic transition developing countries dominant Ecological Economics ecological modernization economic growth energy environment environmental movement environmental problems example explained fertility free market global Green Revolution home paradigm human important income increase individual individualist anti-Malthusian individualist paradigm industrial institutions issue Kuznets curve Lappé limits limits to growth logic Malthus Malthusian Managerial neo-Malthusians managerial paradigm Marx Marxist mental natural resources neoclassical economics nomic paradigm integration paradigm isolation percent political ecology political ideology pollution poor population paradigms population-resource poverty progrowth proponents revolution ronmental social and environmental social theory social theory paradigms society sustainable development tend tendency tenets term theoretical three paradigms throughput tion tradition World Bank