A Political Ecology of Common People

Attacks on the global ecological balance are the result of social domination, according to this book, and the ecological and social struggles are one and the same. It is inspired by Marx's theory and confronts contemporary debates on class, gender, coloniality, the state, the nation, and the World-System. The imperative is to counter the blind logic of capital with a rational logic of organization and to counter the logic of the organizers through a democratic discursive logic. The Global South is on the front line of this struggle, and women's struggle bears its own decisive ecological impulse.

Format: Hardback
Length: 184 pages
Publication date: 26 October 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

The book presents a groundbreaking thesis that modern attacks on the global ecological balance are solely driven by processes of social domination, regardless of factors such as class, gender, or nation. If this assertion holds true, it implies that the ecological and social struggles are interconnected and essentially one struggle. The approach draws inspiration from various scholars, including Marx, Bourdieu, Foucault, Rawls, Habermas, Ostrom, and Wallerstein. It introduces a novel concept of "metastructure," which elucidates the relationship between the structural and symbolic aspects of society. By employing this framework, the book challenges contemporary debates on class, gender, coloniality, the state, nation, and the World-System.

The analysis of global social-ecological destruction is conducted across three distinct registers: capital, which operates for profit; competent authority, which produces to produce; and the nation, which produces to conquer. Consumerism emerges from productivism, rather than the other way around. The question of need takes precedence over that of desire.

This metastructural configuration presents an ongoing challenge to counter the blind logic of capital with a rational logic of organization. Simultaneously, it calls for the resistance against the logic of organizers through a democratic discursive logic, which is accessible to the common people. The Global South stands as the forefront of this struggle, and the women's struggle possesses its own significant ecological dimension.

Weight: 520g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032512884