The Question of Materiality in Environmental Politics
The Question of Materiality in Environmental Politics
The role and position of materiality is — perhaps surprisingly — deeply divisive among both scholars and activists concerned with environmental sustainability. On the one hand is an account – often rooted in Ronald Inglehart’s postmaterialist values thesis but also reflected in the “eco-modernism” of authors including Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus – that minimizes the role of “objective” material conditions and practices in favor of “subjective” values. On the other hand is an account that reverses this relationship. This chapter argues for a conception of materiality and material practices that rejects this subjective/objective divide as a lens for understanding contemporary environmental politics. “New materialism” offers promising resources for this pursuit of a new understanding of environmental politics, but also contains potential pitfalls identified in this chapter.
Keywords: postmaterialist values, eco-modernism, material practices, new materialism, Ronald Inglehart, Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus
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