7. Political Economy Flashcards
(23 cards)
Environmental Justice
is the idea that everyone should have equal access to a clean
and safe environment—no matter their race, ethnicity, gender, or income.
Karl Marx key concepts
labor,
accumulation,
contradiction, and crisis
Labor meaning
is the work people do to produce goods and services. It’s the human effort—physical or mental. According to Karl Marx, labor is what connects nature and society, because when people use natural materials to create things, they shape both the environment and the economy.
Capitalism
is an economic system in which private individuals or businesses own and control the means of production, distribution, and exchange of goods and services. The primary goal in capitalism is profit, and decisions about investment, production, and pricing are driven by market forces like supply and demand.
Commodity
A product or object that has economic value and is made to be bought or sold. a commodity is something made specifically to be exchanged or sold in the market.
Means of Production
These are the tools, machines, factories, and infrastructure needed to produce goods and commodities. They are usually owned by capitalists, not the workers who use them.
Conditions of Production
These are the natural and social resources needed for an economy to work. This includes things like raw materials (water, land, minerals) and human needs (like workers’ health) that support the production process.
Surplus Value
The profit made by owners when workers are paid less than the value they create, or when nature is used up without being restored.
What happened in Enclosure Laws in England
people were forced off communal lands and had to sell their labor to survive. This shift allowed a few capitalists to own land, tools, and resources, while most people became wage workers. This process, called primitive accumulation, helped start modern capitalism.
Primitive Accumulation
This is when capitalists take and accumulate land or resources that were once shared by communities, like when rich elites took over common lands in Britain. It forced people to work for wages because they lost access to the things they once used to survive.
Relations of Production
These are the social roles and relationships in an economy, like workers and owners in capitalism. They show who controls what and who works for whom.
First Contradiction vs. 2nd Contradiction of Capitalism
Capitalism faces two major contradictions that can lead to crises. The first occurs when wealth becomes too concentrated, reducing workers’ wages and purchasing power, which leads to underconsumption and overproduction—eventually causing economic downturns like recessions and layoffs. The second contradiction involves the overuse and degradation of natural resources in the pursuit of profit, leading to environmental damage, resource scarcity, and ecological disasters. Together, these contradictions show how capitalism can harm both people and the environment, threatening the system’s long-term stability.
Social Reproduction
The part of the economy that includes unpaid work, like cooking, cleaning, and caregiving at home. Even though it’s not paid, this work is essential
Commodification of nature:
Nature is increasingly treated as a marketable resource to generate profit, e.g., turning water into a commodity for sale.
Critique of environmentalism:
environmentalism must consider how human society and nature are intertwined within capitalist systems.
Production of Nature:
The idea that nature is shaped by human activity and is now a product of industry, not something separate from people.
Superfund:
A U.S. program designed to clean up polluted, hazardous waste sites.
Commodification:
Turning something into a product that can be bought or sold, treating it as valuable only for exchange, not its actual use.
Spatial Fix
Capitalism sometimes solves its recurring problems by moving production to new places, finding new resources, or creating new markets. This helps avoid crises, like overproduction or underconsumption. This is called Spatial Fix.
Globalization:
- where production and consumption practices spread worldwide, leading to environmental damage like deforestation and pollution.
- This is the process by which economies, societies, and cultures around the world become more connected
Eco-feminism
Ecofeminism is a movement that believes the mistreatment of women and the destruction of the environment are linked. It says both issues come from the patriarchal systems that value power and profit over care for people and nature. Ecofeminism calls for a change to these systems, promoting values like care, cooperation, and respect for both women and the environment.
Anthropocentrism
Is an ethical viewpoint that prioritizes humans as the central factor in determining what is right or wrong in relation to nature. It focuses on human needs, interests, and perspectives when making decisions about the environment. This contrasts with ecocentrism, which values all aspects of the ecosystem, including non-human elements, as having intrinsic worth.
Summary?
- society uses and affects the environment. The three main concepts are: labor, accumulation, contradiction and crisis.
-human society and nature are intertwined within capitalist systems.
