Critique and transformation: On the hypothetical nature of ecosystem service value and its neo-Marxist, liberal and pragmatist criticisms

Melathopoulos, Andony

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.06.023

Cited by 23 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…However, the implications of Marxian economics for ecological economics have never been fully drawn out. In Ecological Economics, there are surprisingly few contributions that explicitly apply Marxian theory to specific social ecological problems (e.g., [88][89][90][91][92]). There are more contributions that implicitly draw on Marxian thought, such as research grounded in political ecology or eco-feminism.…”

Section: From Mainstream Economics To Political Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

Roots, Riots, and Radical Change—A Road Less Travelled for Ecological Economics

Pirgmaier

Steinberger

2019

Sustainability

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In this paper, we put forward a new research agenda for ecological economics, based on three realisations. We then show how these can be connected through research and used to generate insights with the potential for application in broader, systemic change. The first realisation is that the core ambition of ecological economics, that of addressing the scale of human environmental resource use and associated impacts, often remains an aspirational goal, rather than being applied within research. In understanding intertwined environmental and social challenges, systemic approaches (including system dynamics) should be revitalised to address the full scope of what is possible or desirable. The second realisation is that the focus on biophysical and economic quantification and methods has been at the expense of a comprehensive social understanding of environmental impacts and barriers to change—including the role of power, social class, geographical location, historical change, and achieving human well-being. For instance, by fetishising growth as the core problem, attention is diverted away from underlying social drivers—monetary gains as profits, rent, or interest fuelled by capitalist competition and, ultimately, unequal power relations. The third realisation is that ecological economics situates itself with respect to mainstream (neoclassical) economics, but simultaneously adopts some of its mandate and blind spots, even in its more progressive camps. Pragmatic attempts to adopt mainstream concepts and tools often comfort, rather than challenge, the reproduction of the very power relations that stand in the way of sustainability transitions. We consider these three realisations as impediments for developing ecological economics as an emancipatory critical research paradigm and political project. We will not focus on or detail the failings of ecological economics, but state what we believe they are and reformulate them as research priorities. By describing and bringing these three elements together, we are able to outline an ambitious research agenda for ecological economics, one capable of catalysing real social change.

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Section: From Mainstream Economics To Political Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

Roots, Riots, and Radical Change—A Road Less Travelled for Ecological Economics

Pirgmaier

Steinberger

2019

Sustainability

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“…There was a great deal of technical discussion on how to improve the EU ETS for the third phase, which started in 2013 (for review, see Newell et al 2013) although the resulting model effectively reproduced the basic features of the first two phases (Carbon Trade Watch 2011). Like Melathopoulos and Stoner's (2015) critique of ecosystem service valuation, we agree that assuming that past limitations and inadequacies of market-based reforms are due to technical issues neglects a larger question: the relationship of these programs to current social-structural conditions. It is clear that market-corrective climate policies recognize a contradiction between capital accumulation and the climate system.…”

Section: The Ideological Greening Of Markets Via Misunderstandingmentioning

confidence: 93%

Ideological obstacles to effective climate policy: The greening of markets, technology, and growth

2017

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In light of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, this project synthesizes and advances critiques of the possibility of a sustainable capitalism by adopting an explicit ‘negative’ theory of ideology, understood as ideas that conceal contradictions through the reification and/or legitimation of the existing social order. Prominent climate change policy frameworks – the ‘greening’ of markets (market-corrective measures), technology (alternative energy, energy efficiency, and geoengineering), and growth (the green growth strategy) – are shown to conceal one or both of the two systemic socio-ecological contradictions inherent in the current social formation: (1) a contradiction between capital’s growth-dependence and the latter’s degrading impact on the climate (the ‘capital-climate contradiction’) and (2) a contradiction between the potential of using technological infrastructure that aids in emissions reductions and the institutionalized social relations that obstruct this technical potential (the ‘technical potential-productive relations contradiction’). Attempts to reform the very techniques and institutions that brought about the climate crisis will remain ineffective and reproduce the social order that results in climate change. After proposing a way in which societies might move out of the ideological trappings of green markets, technology, and growth, two alternatives are proposed: economic degrowth coupled with Marcuse’s conception of a ‘new technology’.

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“…This article draws from the ‘negative’ (Larrain, 1979) or ‘critical’ (Thompson, 1984) conception of ideology, or ideology as contradiction-concealing ideas and practices (for overlapping conceptualizations of ideology in environmental studies, even when the term is not explicitly used, see Bell and York, 2010; Foster, 2010; Hornborg, 2001a; 2001b; Melathopoulos and Stoner, 2015; Norgaard, 2011; Wright and Nyberg, 2015). This conception of ideology is rooted in Marx.…”

Section: Ideology Technology and The Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Materialized ideology and environmental problems: The cases of solar geoengineering and agricultural biotechnology

Gunderson

Stuart

Petersen

2019

European Journal of Social Theory

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This article expands upon the notion of ideology as a material phenomenon, usually in the form of institutionalized, taken-for-granted practices. It draws on Herbert Marcuse and related thinkers to conceptualize technological solutions to environmental problems as materialized ideological responses to social-ecological contradictions, which, by concealing these contradictions, reproduce existing social conditions. This article outlines a method of technology assessment as ideology critique that draws attention to: (1) the social determinants of the given technology; (2) whether the technology conceals or masks social-ecological contradictions; (3) whether the technology reproduces existing social conditions; and (4) whether the technology may be used for more rational or emancipatory ends in different social conditions. The examples of solar geoengineering and agricultural biotechnology are examined and it is found that, in each case, these technological solutions conceal social-ecological contradictions and support the current economic system and those benefiting from it, while precluding other alternatives.

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Critique and transformation: On the hypothetical nature of ecosystem service value and its neo-Marxist, liberal and pragmatist criticisms

Cited by 23 publications

References 63 publications

Roots, Riots, and Radical Change—A Road Less Travelled for Ecological Economics

Roots, Riots, and Radical Change—A Road Less Travelled for Ecological Economics

Ideological obstacles to effective climate policy: The greening of markets, technology, and growth

Materialized ideology and environmental problems: The cases of solar geoengineering and agricultural biotechnology

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