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Redistributive Goals versus Distributive Politics: Social Equity Limits in Environmental and Appropriate Technology Movements *
Author(s) -
Schnaiberg Allan
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1983.tb00034.x
Subject(s) - ideology , social movement , equity (law) , distributive property , politics , sociology , new social movements , citizen journalism , environmental movement , negotiation , context (archaeology) , rhetoric , political economy , economics , political science , law , social science , linguistics , paleontology , philosophy , mathematics , pure mathematics , biology
Contrary to conventional social problems models that depict environmental problems as arising from either “sin” or “error,” such problems are rooted in the modern treadmill of production. Following the classification of Theodore Lowi, recent environmental movement organizations appear to have emphasized a social redistributive rhetoric (sin), but have engaged in practices of distributive politics (error). As a result, even with the advent of the “radical” appropriate technology movement in the mid 1970s, the central issues relate to the forces of production, with far less attention given to the social relations of modern production. The explanation for this disparity lies partly in the substantial decline of a participatory base for social movement organizations in the 1970s. Hence the advent of appriate technology movement organizations has raised competition for limited membership pools, inducing older organizations to become more diffuse in their ideologies in order to maintain and/or attract constituents. Second, the social context makes successful redistributive policies less likely, encouraging movement organizations to find successes in more decentralized distributive negotiations.