Laura A. McKinney

Ecologically Unequal Exchange, World Polity, and Biodiversity Loss: A Cross-National Analysis of Threatened Mammals

There have been a few cross-national studies published that examine the determinants of threatened mammal species. However, these studies neglect insights from both ecologically unequal exchange theory and world polity theory. We seek to address this gap in the literature using cross-national data for a sample of 74 nations to construct negative binomial regression models with the number of threatened mammal species as the dependent variable. In doing so, we find substantial support for ecologically unequal exchange theory that flows of primary sector exports from poor to rich nations are associated with higher levels of threatened mammals in poor nations. We also find support for world polity theory that environmental non-governmental organizations are associated with lower levels of threatened mammals in poor nations. We conclude with a discussion of the findings, some policy implications, and possible directions for future research.

World System, Anthropogenic, and Ecological Threats to Bird and Mammal Species: A Structural Equation Analysis of Biodiversity Loss

Biodiversity is essential for human well-being, the functioning of ecosystems, and the sustained flow of benefits from ecosystems to individuals and societies. An important component of biodiversity is “species richness,” the number of species in an ecological unit. Loss of species richness contributes to worsening health, lower food security, and the increasing vulnerability of human and animal populations. This article examines the effects of relevant global, anthropogenic (human caused), and ecological factors on nations’ relative shares of the global total of threatened bird and mammal species for 139 countries. Using structural equation models, the authors tested hypothesized predictions from human ecology, ecological modernization, and global political-economic approaches. The findings indicate that the structure of the global system directly affects local anthropogenic factors (modernization, population), which, in concert with ecological characteristics, are direct and indirect predictors of the loss of species. This research emphasizes the importance of informed sociological analyses that account for both the direct and indirect effects of global forces and the conjoint importance of anthropogenic and ecological processes that contribute to a key form of environmental degradation.

Disease, War, Hunger, and Deprivation: A Cross-National Investigation of the Determinants of Life Expectancy in Less-Developed and Sub-Saharan African Nations

Researchers note a recent trend of increasing inequality in cross-national life expectancy rates, largely due to conditions in the poorest of nations. Threats to life expectancy in less-developed nations include poverty, warfare, intense hunger, and disease, particularly AIDS/HIV. This article utilizes structural equation models for a sample of less-developed nations and a subsample of Sub-Saharan African nations to test interrelationships among predictors. Findings indicate modernization to be the most robust predictor of life expectancy across less-developed nations and HIV to be the strongest determinant of life expectancy in Sub-Saharan African nations. Somewhat surprisingly, warfare and hunger do not have direct impacts on life expectancy among less-developed nations; however, important linkages among warfare, hunger, and disease are evidenced in the Sub-Saharan African sample, along with a notable positive influence of modernization on HIV rates. The findings demonstrate the significance of HIV on cross-national life expectancy scores and illuminate unique dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Entropic Disorder: New Frontiers in Environmental Sociology:

Environmental sociologists have identified various facets of anthropogenic ecological degradation such as deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, natural resource depletion, and water and land pollution. Virtually all of these outcomes are encompassed by one important dimension—the introduction of “entropy” or disorder via processes of production, consumption, and waste creation that are critical to understanding current cleavages in sustainability profiles of nations. This article synthesizes thermodynamic laws with global political-economic interpretations on the environment. A cross-national structural equation model demonstrates the theoretical and empirical importance of entropy as it relates to natural resources and environmental degradation. Conclusions and implications for research in environmental sociology, particularly, and sociology, generally, are discussed.

Global Context, National Interdependencies, and the Ecological Footprint: A Structural Equation Analysis

This paper develops a theoretical integration and estimates an associated structural equation model of the ecological footprints of nations. The ecological footprint is an approximation of environmental pressure on natural resources that stems from production, consumption, and the resultant disposal of waste. We use structural equation modeling techniques to test an integrative perspective based on direct and indirect effects, taken from human ecology, ecological economics, modernization, and political economy approaches, as well as from the natural sciences. We find evidence for the conjuncture of many of the theories investigated and for contextualizing the footprint in a global network of causes. The model raises questions about conclusions reached in prior analyses based on direct effects only. The significant roles played by natural and economic forces suggest a need to attend to multidisciplinary dynamics. With the exception of “weak sustainability,” the indirect and direct impacts suggest ever-escalating levels of the footprints of nations.

Agricultural Trade Dependency and the Threat of Starvation: A Cross-National Analysis of Hunger as Unequal Exchange

Hunger represents a persistent problem in less developed countries (LDCs). Comparative sociological research debates the role of exports in influencing hunger, as export specialization can be a means to development as well as dependency. We consider the severity of hunger as an outcome of unequal exchange relationships, utilizing a measure of agricultural export flows. The results reveal that agricultural export flows to high-income countries elevate the severity of hunger in LDCs, net of other important modernization, food production, and military factors. Thus, the concept of unequal exchange is relevant in explaining cross-national patterns in hunger, and suggests that inequalities in food distribution are paramount in contributing to threatening levels of hunger in LDCs.

Foreign direct investment, development, and overshoot.

Overshoot of the earths carrying capacity is an acute concern for sustainability initiatives that seek to equalize access to the natural resources that are requisite to meet the basic needs of humanity. Demands on nature that exceed ecological capacities compromise critical ecosystem functions that provision the inputs necessary for life. This paper draws on concepts and analytical frameworks from the natural, physical, and social sciences to assess the drivers of sustainability at the global and national level. Integrative theoretical predictions are tested in a structural equation model that advances empirical research on overshoot and outflows of foreign investments that is relatively lacking in the literature. Findings highlight the differential impacts of key aspects of economic globalization on both development and overshoot across nations.

Intensity of food deprivation: The integrative impacts of the world system, modernization, conflict, militarization and the environment:

US and world military expenditures have increased dramatically in the last decade. Some cross-national treatments identify positive impacts of military spending on a range of domestic outcomes, while many others point to the converse. We review the literature and then focus on under examined relationships, including the impact of military expenditures on the intensity of food deprivation worldwide. We employ a structural equation modeling technique that permits synthetic analyses of direct and indirect impacts of a range of factors specified by the theories. We find world-system context indirectly matters a great deal to the intensity of food deprivation in nations, both in our sample of developed and developing nations, and of developing countries only. So do intra-national and international conflicts, especially insofar as they impact national modernization and military spending. While modernization is moderately enhanced by military spending for our cross-national sample of developed and developing countries, it is not for the sample of developing countries only. This may point to military technology’s spill over effects on other sectors of the economy, but solely for developed nations. For the world over, national modernization, itself a consequence of global power and dependency, directly reduces the intensity of food deprivation, while military expenditures directly heighten it. These differential relationships lead us to advocate for a more synthetic theorizing in studies of food security and hunger, while accounting for global circumstances that produce both similar and different consequences in richer and poorer countries.

A human ecology approach to environmental inequality: A county-level analysis of natural disasters and the distribution of landfills in the southeastern United States

Author(s): McKinney, L; Kick, E; Cannon, C | Abstract:

The Entropy Curse

The purpose of this chapter is to advance theory and empirics of the links that connect the environment with trajectories of economic development within the broader framework of ecologically unequal exchange. The chapter draws on physical science and thermodynamic principles to substantiate the central claim that it is the liquidation of resources—not resource abundance per se—that stunts economic growth in the periphery. Moreover, the structure of the world-system and ecologically unequal exchanges therein fuel the appropriation of resources that stymies development in less-developed nations. The theory and cross-national empirics presented indicate clearly that ecologically unequal exchanges and associated environmental losses in poor nations are driving unequal development. Thus, ecologically unequal exchange is a root cause of global inequality, including cross-national differences in economic development. The chapter concludes that perspectives seeking to explain patterns of underdevelopment in peripheral areas would benefit from the incorporation of an interdisciplinary perspective that includes physical (thermodynamic) principles and pays explicit attention to the unequal nature of ecological exchanges the world over. Various implications as well as directions for future research are discussed.