A2 Government and Politics - Ecologism Part Two

Key theories:

Critique of Capitalism - Capitalism breeds materialism and consumerism due to need for profit which leads to relentless and unsustainable growth.

Commodification of Nature - Free Market turns nature into a commodity, something that only has use-value and can be eroded, labour and nature are both exploited. It treats them as a resource to create profit.

Key Strategy:

Economic Planning - Balance between red and green concern, should campaign within the socialist movement and focus on economic change. Economic planning needed to focus production of goods on human needs not profit. End of commodification.

Key theorist - WIlliam Morris - Early utopian pastoral socialist advanced small scale egalitarian craft comunities living close to nature.

Key theorist - Rudolf Bahro - German ecosocialist. Individualism destroys natural environment due to capitalist obsession with profit, ecological crisis must take precedence over class struggle.

Key theories:

Parallels between Natural and Social Order - Domination over other people linked to domination over nature. Rejection of government in society, parallels ecologist rejection of human 'rule' over nature.

A belief in spontaneous order - Believe that anarchist communities are like ecosystems. Balance and harmony spontaneously develops and both require no outside authority or control.

Key strategy:

Communal living, decentralisation and self management - Non-hierarchical direct action, dislike of authority, leadership structures and hierarchy.

Key theorist: Murray Bookchin - Believed that the environmental crisis was a result of the breakdown of the organic fabric of both society and native ecological balance essential for social stability.

Key theories:

Intrinsic link between women and nature - Women's biological capacity to give something birth means they are connected to natural rhythms and processes. This structures their political / cultural orientations.

Women are naturally in harmony with nature - Female values have an ecological character, women recognise that nature operates in and through them and intuitively sense that personal fulfilment comes from acting with nature.

Patriarchal society is Anti-Nature - Male society linked to dominance of humanity over nature, views nature only in terms of user value, creates exploitative, competitive hierarchical society.

Key Strategy: Female only communities / consciousness raising - Rejection of the masculine world. Women = 'the vanguard in dealing with the ecological crisis'. Equality feminists believe that patriarchy distorts men and divorces them from the nurturing private world because of division of labour. Difference feminists see men as biologically programmed to destroy nature.

Key theorist: Mary Daley - Difference feminist who believed that women can liberate themselves from patriarchy by embracing nature.

Key theories:

Paradigm shift - rejection of mechanistic / atomistic world view - Need for a complete change in the way we view the world

Ecocentrism / Ecosophy - Rejection of anthropocentrism according priority to nature of the planet and the maintenance of ecological balance rather than the achievement of human ends.

Radical Holism - Rejection of mechanistic reductionist view, nature seen as interconnected whole, knowledge only acquired through holism.

Strategies:

Transpersonal Ecologism - Rejection of materialism and individualism, promotes selfishness and greed. Self actualisation achieved by adopting the ecological self.

Strong sustainability - Rejection of industrial consumerism with profit obsession, attempt to build a truly self sufficient society.

Biocentric Equality - Rejection of utilitarian ethics which viewed nature as having only use-value.

Nature = Intrinsic Value - Nature viewed as an ethical community with each member having intrinsic and equal value.

James Lovelock - Founder of Gaia theory based on viewing the earth as one large self-sustaining organism.

Fritjof Capra - Physicist that uses parallels between quantum physics and eastern religions to explain interconnected nature and reality.

Arne Naess - Founder of deep ecology, believes that humans have a special relationship with nature.

Earth First - The active political unit of deep ecology, advocate destructive monkey wrenching approach.

Goal:

Balance between ecology and capitalist modernity - Maintenance and conservation of the natural world so that it can continue to support the health and prosperity of the human species.

Eco-Socialism - Social Revolution - Need to abolish and replace capitalism and end exploitation of nature. Classless, stateless society based around common ownership.

Eco-Anarchism - Decentralised stateless society and self sufficiency - Self managed communes governed by direct democracy. Ecological balance and economic self sufficiency.

Eco-Feminism - Overthrow Patriarchy and women's liberation - Women's liberation and the construction of a new relationship between human society and nature. Equality feminists Androgynous society. Difference feminists advocate female society.

Deep Ecology - A human society in harmony with nature - In which anthropocentric human conerns are not placed above those of nature.