Summary
Contents
Subject index
This accomplished book argues that we can only make sense of environmental issues if we consider them as part of a more encompassing process of social transformation. It asks whether there is an emerging consensus between social scientists on the central issues in the debate on environmental change, and if concerns about the environment constitute a major prop to the process of globalization? The book provides a thorough discussion of the central themes in environmental sociology, identifying two traditions: ecological modernization theory and risk society theory.
Ecological Modernization and Post-Ecologist Politics
Ecological Modernization and Post-Ecologist Politics
In the context of the widely acknowledged post-Brundtland ‘age of the environment’, ecological modernization and ecological modernization theory have experienced a comet-like career, and are celebrated as the key to the ecological transformation of late industrial societies. This chapter raises fundamental doubts vis-à-vis the theory of ecological modernization and analyses the corresponding social practices on the basis of the competing theory of post-ecologist politics (Blühdorn, 1997). This leads to the thesis that, contrary to its reputation, the practice of ecological modernization must not be seen as a strategy for the preservation or restoration of a certain state of the physical environment. Instead, I will suggest that ecological modernization is a form of societal behavior which responds ...
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