Agency, democracy, and nature : the U.S. environmental movement from a critical theory perspective / / Robert J. Brulle

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910829168803321
• Autore: Brulle Robert J
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Cambridge, Mass., : MIT Press, c2000
• ISBN: 0-262-26165-0; 0-262-26940-6; 1-4237-3083-6
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (x, 347 pages) : illustrations
• Disciplina: 333.7/2/0973
• Soggetti: Environmentalism - United States - History
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [303]-341) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Agency, Democracy, and Nature -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Agency, Democracy, and Nature -- Ecological Degradation and Social Change -- Communicative Action and the Social Order -- The Social Dynamics of Environmental -- Degradation -- Social Learning for Ecological Sustainability -- The Growth and Institutionalization of the -- Environmental Movement -- Manifest Destiny and the Development of -- North America -- The Early Development of the -- Environmental Movement -- Reform Environmentalism: Public Health and -- Ecology -- Alternative Voices -- The Dynamics of the Environmental -- Movement -- Agency, Democracy, and the Environment -- Appendix: Methodology -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.
• Sommario/riassunto: Annotation In this book Robert Brulle draws on a broad range of empirical and theoretical research to investigate the effectiveness of U.S. environmental groups. Brulle shows how Critical Theory--in particular the work of Jürgen Habermas--can expand our understanding of the social causes of environmental degradation and the political actions necessary to deal with it. He then develops both a pragmatic and a moral argument for broad-based democratization of society as a prerequisite to the achievement of ecological sustainability. From the perspectives of frame analysis, resource mobilization, and historical sociology, using data on more than one hundred environmental groups, Brulle examines the core beliefs, structures, ; funding, and political practices of a wide variety of environmental organizations. He identifies the social processes that foster the development of a democratic environmental movement and those that hinder it. He concludes with suggestions for how environmental groups can make their organizational practices more democratic and politically effective.