Constructing Environmental Compliance

Law, Science, and Endangered Species Conservation in California's Delta

Bibliographic Data

ID2228784
AuthorsClaudine Scoville (0000-0003-2797-0018, Tufts University, corresponding author), Caleb Scoville
Year2022
Volume127
Issue4
Pages1094-1150
Publication date2022-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9602 • E-ISSN: 1537-5390
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/718277
OpenAlexW4226365649
LanguageEN
Citations received23
References cited72

This study extends theories of the construction of legal compliance by conceptualizing scientists as compliance professionals in relation to environmental law. The author argues that visions of nature immanent in scientific and legal fields can serve as the basis for various environmental compliance relations. The approach is developed via a historical and ethnographic case study of the delta smelt, a controversial and intensely studied endangered species. Three compliance relations became dominant at distinct junctures in the case. First is aligned visions, a relation of coordination in a constructed space of compatibility. Second is judicial subordination, a relation of domination, with scientists acting as legal underlaborers. Third is contested visions, a relation of conflict, in which scientists agonistically push against the limits of the law. The author theorizes their succession as a compliance process of boundary object construction and breakdown. The analysis aims to bring environmental law squarely within the jurisdiction of law and society

Boundary object · Compliance (psychology) · Endangered species · Environmental ethics · Environmental law · Jurisdiction · Law and economics · Negotiation · Political science · Population · Relation (database) · Sociology · Subordination (linguistics) · Vision · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Law · Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses

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