MIDTERM 5 Flashcards
Social Constructionism
There is no objective reality outside our categories of perception and interpretation. We can only know things through the ways that we categorise, classify, define, and understand them - and those ways of understanding are the products of culture and society
Essentialism
A thing’s characteristics are natural,
inherent, innate, fixed, unchanging
Humanism
Fundamental idea that humans are separate and superior from OTH beings.
- Other-than-human beings have less/no moral value
Humanist View of Nature
Irrational/non-rational “Laws of nature” Mechanistic body Instinct/passion INFERIOR
Humanist View of Human
Rational I Autonomy/ “free will” Mind/spirit + body Civility/self-control SUPERIOR
Key point: conceptions of “human” & “nature”
= social constructions
Claims that animals do feel pain/emotions
- Every part of an animal functions just like in a human
- Neurobiology clearly shows that animal brains function like human brains, eg. same limbic pathways
- Humans and other animals have the same neuro chemicals; antipsychotics and
antidepressants (Xanax, Prozac, etc.) work the same - what is the purpose of maternal deprivation studies conducted on thousands of monkeys for over 50 years?!
Speciesism
exclusion of certain beings from the realm of moral
concern merely on the basis of species
-assertion that humans are superior to all other life forms;
prejudice in favour of one’s own species
Nature’s role in economic processes
Provider of inputs (“natural resources”)
Receiver of outputs (“waste”)
Natural Resource
A socially constructed way of viewing OTH
worlds in terms of human wants (incl. profit),
that varies over time, space, and culture.
Economic activity involves ______ of resources
commodification
extraction
transformation
trading
Rationalism in economics is used to
- Create a discursive separation between humans
and all other life forms - Justify human greed and exploitation of nature
Assumptions of Rational Choice Theory
- assumes humans are naturally “rational actors”
- sees human nature as intrinsically selfish
- neglects how rational action is culturally defined
Rational
Make calculated decisions to maximize self interest,
especially economic self interest
By-Catch
accounts for 40%-90% of all catches.
Scientists estimate that
the world’s oceans will be
dead by
2050.
Elements necessary for commodification (6)
Privatization
Alienability
Individuation
Abstraction
Valuation
Displacement
Privatization
Assigning of legal title over a commodity to a
particular actor
Alienability
Capacity of a given commodity to be physically and
morally separated from sellers
Individuation
Separating a commodity from supporting context
through legal and material boundaries
Abstraction
Setting individual things as equivalent based on
classifiable similarities, e.g. “wetlands”
Valuation
Monetizing the value of a commodity, making it
exchangeable
Displacement
Spatiotemporal separation, obscuring origins and
relations [mystification; commodity fetishism]
A resource becomes exploitable when
value reaches certain level
necessary technology
is available
Resources created due to:
- Ideology (eg. speciesism)
- Technological and scientific knowledge
- Economic circumstances
New technological and scientific knowledge and how is leads to more resource exploitation
- Improved means of extraction or processing
- New uses for a natural substance
How economic circumstances creates idea of “resources”
- Increased demand or decreased supply
leads to higher price - Extraction/exploitation becomes
“economical” (ie., “rational”)
how do resources vary as commodities?
Location
The physical nature of commodities differs
Transport and storage
Communal ownership and access
Individuals have usufruct (use) rights,
eg. communal farm land, forests, grazing
pastures, water sources
State ownership and state exploitation of resources
Benefits shared by all citizens as govt. revenue
• More common in early/mid 20th C
State ownership and private exploitation
State owns lands and leases out / firms purchase license to exploit.
Firm keeps profits after taxes
Role of the state in resource extraction
Infrastructure
Investment
Logistics
Changing patterns of ownership
3 Global trends
• ↑ private ownership; ↓ communal or open access
• ↑ importance of SOEs/GLC’s in resource
industries (esp. in GS)
• Privatization of formerly state controlled
industries, eg. coal, water, hydroelectric dams
- Land previously used for subsistence now for market production (eg. eucalyptus plantation)
Two ways of analyzing the worth of natural resources
in the contemporary capitalist system:
- Commodity price based on supply and demand
in the marketplace - Assign a monetary value that includes a wider
value of the natural environment & cost of
disturbing/destroying it
Green washing
polluters buy carbon neutral status
