Diana Stuart

Crossing the ‘great divide’ in practice: theoretical approaches for sociology in interdisciplinary environmental research

Ideological and intellectual separation between nature and society continues to limit our understanding of the world and impair our ability to address critical environmental problems. An increasing number of environmental and natural resource issues now require an integrative interdisciplinary approach. Using theoretical grounded frameworks and tools, sociologists have an important role to play in this work. This paper examines several theoretical approaches to cross the nature–society divide and guide sociologists participating interdisciplinary environmental research. These approaches include ecological Marxism, actor-network theory (ANT), social–biophysical stratification, and resilience theory. The paper examines specific strengths and shortcomings associated with each approach, areas for future application and development, and how each approach may be applied to support interdisciplinary environmental research. In addition, an example is used to illustrate how a specific theoretical approach can be applied to create a conceptual framework to guide interdisciplinary research. This paper aims to further the development and elaboration of nature–society theorization and to support sociologists who seek theoretical tools to apply to interdisciplinary environmental research projects.

Ideological obstacles to effective climate policy: The greening of markets, technology, and growth:

In light of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, this project synthesizes and advances critiques of the possibility of a sustainable capitalism by adopting an explicit ‘negative’ theory of ideology, understood as ideas that conceal contradictions through the reification and/or legitimation of the existing social order. Prominent climate change policy frameworks – the ‘greening’ of markets (market-corrective measures), technology (alternative energy, energy efficiency, and geoengineering), and growth (the green growth strategy) – are shown to conceal one or both of the two systemic socio-ecological contradictions inherent in the current social formation: (1) a contradiction between capital’s growth-dependence and the latter’s degrading impact on the climate (the ‘capital-climate contradiction’) and (2) a contradiction between the potential of using technological infrastructure that aids in emissions reductions and the institutionalized social relations that obstruct this technical potential (the ‘technical potential-productive relations contradiction’). Attempts to reform the very techniques and institutions that brought about the climate crisis will remain ineffective and reproduce the social order that results in climate change. After proposing a way in which societies might move out of the ideological trappings of green markets, technology, and growth, two alternatives are proposed: economic degrowth coupled with Marcuse’s conception of a ‘new technology’.

Moving toward sustainable farming systems: Insights from private and public sector dialogues on nitrogen management

Agricultural systems face the challenge of increasing production to meet growing global demand for food while protecting the natural resource base in a changing climate. Major environmental challenges include rebuilding soil health after centuries of heavily extractive production systems, improving water and air quality, and contributing to climate change mitigation (Robertson 2015). These resource problems are diffuse and pervasive, resulting from the decisions of individual farmers who are struggling to balance production with environmental protection. Moreover, public policies in the United States promote large-scale monoculture production and heavy reliance on industrial inputs through direct subsidies and insurance options that limit farmer choices (Iles and Marsh 2012; Stuart and Gillon 2013). Meeting these challenges requires a multipronged and multilayered approach: actions by thousands of individual farmers supported by research into new approaches, education about emerging practices and technologies, and policies that promote sustainability. These types of challenges have been described as wicked problems (Batie 2008) because they are dynamic, complex, and occur in both technical and social dimensions as compared to problems with straightforward causes and effects that are largely solvable through technical solutions. In the agri-environmental context, wicked problems arise because farming is both an ecological and a socioeconomic process.

Is seeing believing? Applying a realist framework to examine agriculture and climate change

ABSTRACT Agricultural production contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change. If the agricultural sector is to mitigate its contributions, farmers must actively adopt conservation practices. Recent studies have shown farmers’ beliefs about climate change to be influential in their support for adopting these practices. This study explores how social groups and their climate change messages interact with regional biophysical expressions of climate change to influence farmers’ climate change beliefs. We apply a recently revised realist framework to qualitative data from 104 interviews with corn farmers in Iowa and Indiana, United States (US). Our findings illustrate that many farmers are able to detect the biophysical expressions of climate change; however, their acknowledgement of the impacts of climate change in most cases does not translate into an acknowledgement of the anthropogenic nature of climate change. Conflicting social messages produce uncertainty about or disbelief in humans’ causal role. These results show that realist frameworks, like the one applied here, can serve as useful guides for analyses and intervention related to climate change mitigation.

Nonhuman Animals as Fictitious Commodities: Exploitation and Consequences in Industrial Agriculture

This paper examines how nonhuman animals, along with land and labor, represent fictitious commodities as described by Karl Polanyi. Animals in agriculture are examined as an extreme example of animal commodification whose use resembles the exploitation of land and labor. Conceptual frameworks developed from Marxist theory, including the subsumption of nature, the second contradiction of capitalism, and alienation, are applied to illustrate how the negative impacts to animals, the environment, and public health associated with animal agriculture are caused by attempts to overcome the incomplete commodification of animals. This paper illustrates how social theory can be extended to apply to animals, especially animals who are deeply embedded in human society. The inclusion of animals in social analyses also serves to strengthen our overall understanding of exploitation and oppression under capitalism.

The Political Economy of Geoengineering as Plan B: Technological Rationality, Moral Hazard, and New Technology

ABSTRACT Geoengineering would mask and reproduce capital’s contradictory needs to self-expand, on the one hand, and maintain a stable climate system, on the other. The Plan B frame, which presents geoengineering as a back-up plan to address climate change in case there is a failure to sufficiently reduce emissions (Plan A), is one means to depict this condition to the public and is a product of, and appeals to, a prevalent ‘technological rationality’. Despite its misleading simplicity, logical flaws, and irrational rationality, the Plan B frame is a relatively valid representation of geoengineering in current political-economic conditions. Although the Plan B frame will gain traction because Plan A is too expensive in the short term and does not serve powerful interests, there are alternative social futures in which technology could be used to address climate change in ways that preserve the environment and reduce social risks.

The Impact of Federal and State Conservation Programs on Farmer Nitrogen Management

The U.S. federal government, as well as many state and local governments, operate a number of conservation programs aimed at ameliorating the environmental problems associated with agriculture. While motives and barriers to conservation program participation and adoption of conservation practices have been extensively studied, the direct impacts of programs on ongoing farm operations remains underexplored. To examine the effects of conservation programs on nitrogen management, an aspect of crop production with significant environmental impacts we conducted interviews with 154 corn producers in three Midwestern U.S. states with a range of program experiences. We found that programs shifted farmer N management behavior through three social processes: (1) engaging farmers in the conservation system by introducing them to the state and federal conservation agencies, (2) incentivizing trialing of specific N management practices, and (3) increasing practice adoption through continued program engagement. Working-lands programs were far more effective at shifting on-farm nutrient management practices than land retirement, certification, or outreach-based programs, though all programs had the indirect benefit of increasing farmer familiarity with conservation agencies and programs. Working-lands programs directly motivated practice adoption; including soil testing regimes, implementing nutrient management plans, and splitting nitrogen applications to improving availability; by reducing producer risk and providing technical assistance, especially whole-farm planning. The additional benefits of all programs were moderated by participant selection bias, in particular that program participants were more predisposed to conservation efforts by existing stewardship and innovation attitudes.