Green politics and neo-liberalism

cover image

Where to find it

Davis Library (5th floor)

Call Number
GE170 .T64 2000b
Status
Available

Authors, etc.

Names:

Summary

David Toke adapts the green critique of the external costs of economic growth to examine the links between stress, social division and excessive competition that are associated with the neo-liberal discourse. Discourse analysis is used in a critical manner to examine the way that environmental issues are shaped. The book challenges established notions of the role of scientists, environmental groups and the widely presumed centrality of rational choice analysis in political science is questioned.

Contents

  • List of Tables p. x
  • Acknowledgements p. xi
  • Introduction p. 1
  • 1 Discourse, Power and Environmental Policy p. 5
  • Foucault on power p. 9
  • Discursive transformation p. 11
  • The shifting self-interests of US CFC producers and consumers p. 15
  • De-centred power is not enough p. 17
  • Transport and power p. 20
  • Alternative energy and power p. 26
  • Truth and knowledge about US nuclear power p. 32
  • 2 Rational Choice Theory and Environmental Policy p. 35
  • The fall of classic rational choice p. 36
  • RCT and 'soft' incentives p. 41
  • Ostrom's institutional RCT p. 44
  • Belief systems, norms and self-interest p. 47
  • RCT and new international environmental problems p. 51
  • 3 Science, Politics and Environmentalists p. 58
  • In the shadow of the bomb p. 60
  • From the scientisation of politics to the politicisation of science p. 62
  • Scientists and environmental groups p. 64
  • Saving the whale p. 66
  • CFCs and ozone depletion p. 68
  • Beyond positivism p. 70
  • Blurred roles p. 72
  • 4 Neo-liberalism and Green Politics p. 75
  • Public choice and market theory p. 76
  • The norms of public choice p. 78
  • Middle classes and material self-interest p. 81
  • Interpreting self-interest p. 82
  • Can green politics reinterpret self-interest? p. 85
  • 5 Health and Materialism p. 92
  • Inequalities, health and social malaise p. 94
  • Stress health and work p. 98
  • Status and the competitive society p. 102
  • Competition and consumption p. 105
  • The consequences of too much competition p. 106
  • The new discourse of stress at work p. 108
  • 6 The Politics of Performance p. 113
  • Education, competition and performance p. 118
  • Does increasing competition in education work? p. 120
  • School league tables p. 123
  • Co-operative solutions p. 126
  • 7 A Green Alternative p. 129
  • A culture of stress p. 129
  • Holistic approaches to society p. 132
  • Greens and socialism p. 134
  • Gorz's green socialism - a path to paradise? p. 136
  • The shape of future work p. 141
  • Reforming work p. 144
  • Paths to holism: eastern and western p. 147
  • Paths to 'downshifting' p. 149
  • Greens and urban regeneration[superscript 3] p. 154
  • 8 Truth, Technology and Progress p. 159
  • Epistemology and ontology p. 161
  • The notion of 'species realism' p. 162
  • Human truths and environmental progress p. 166
  • Postmodernism and environmental practice p. 168
  • Technology and progress p. 173
  • Technology and risk p. 176
  • Three ages of control p. 180
  • 9 Concluding Comments p. 184
  • Discourse and truth p. 184
  • Social green strategies p. 185
  • Reconstituting self-interest p. 187
  • Rational choice and self-interest p. 188
  • Correcting foucault p. 189
  • Notes p. 191
  • Bibliography p. 193
  • Index p. 205

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