Greening the poor
The Trap of Moralization
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5610280 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hadrien Malier (0000-0002-3559-4369, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 70 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1661-1680 |
| Publication date | 2019-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1468-4446.12672 |
| PMID | 30945273 |
| OpenAlex | W2935104261 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 20 |
| References cited | 30 |
This article uses ethnographic data to engage a critical reflection on the tension between individual responsibility for the environment and inequality. While research has shown that the majority of sustainable consumers are middle and upper class, educated and white individuals, the study explores how the ethical injunction to ecological sustainability is being introduced to lower-income neighbourhoods in France. It draws on the observation of a national programme which aims at supporting inhabitants of public housing estates in the process of greening their lifestyle in order to fight climate change and fuel poverty. The paper analyses how environmental responsibilization is specific in that it calls upon a responsibility towards others, towards the common good. Using the Foucauldian concept of 'subjectivation', it describes and analyses the moral work implied by such behaviour change programmes. It demonstrates that a negative representation of poor households and a moral framing of the responsibility for the environment lead to a moralization of their lifestyle under the heading of 'eco-friendly behaviours'. A paradoxical result of such endeavours is that the social group with the least impactful lifestyle on the environment is the one which is moralized in the most intrusive and resolute manner. The article shows, however, that the tenants manage to resist the normalizing discourse on sustainable living, for reasons which are not anti-environmentalist. This piece thus provides interesting results for sustainability studies as well as for the sociology of the regulation of underprivileged neighbourhoods
Environmental ethics · Framing (construction · Geography · Moral responsibility · Neighbourhood (mathematics · Political science · Poverty · Sociology · Sustainability · Ecology · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Environmental Justice and Health Disparities · Environmental Sustainability in Business · Law
Knocking on doors
The carbon footprint of procreation
Un écomépris ? Jugements socio-raciaux autour de l’écologie dans le mouvement des Gilets jaunes à La Réunion
L’industrie au chevet de la planète ? Une diversité d’émotions face aux innovations « écologiques »
Au croisement de la justice environnementale et épistémique
Understandings of Responsibility Amongst Sāmoan Diaspora in Greater Brisbane, Australia
Green and Good? Examining Intended and Unintended Effects of Morally Framed Climate Messages
Is it sustainable consumption or performative environmentalism
Sufficiency, consumption patterns and limits
Energy coaching and ‘fix team’ retrofitting to mitigate energy poverty
Beyond Innovation Niches
Morals and climate decision-making
Are movements against climate-change policy anti-environmental? Research on the yellow vest movement
From environmental policy consensus to socio-environmental policy controversy
A cure-all for energy poverty? Thinking critically about energy advice
(Un)sustainable futures and the “vulnerable other
Green Transitions
Les classes populaires et l'enjeu écologique
De la norme à la pratique écocitoyenne
No (sociological) excuses for not going green
Overcoming the ‘value‐action gap’ in environmental policy
“If They Only Knew”
Responsibilisation at the Margins of Welfare Services
Powers of Freedom
The Impact of Social Factors and Consumer Behavior on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the United Kingdom
Au-delà des impayés d’énergie, comment appréhender la précarité énergétique
Good food, good people
Green Consumption
Practice-ing behaviour change
Mind the Gap
Will Consumers Save The World? The Framing of Political Consumerism
The Limits of the Sovereign State
Ethics
Individualization
Green governmentality
The Poverty of Morality
An emerging eco-habitus
Post-Foucauldian governmentality
Political power beyond the State
The Poor
Les guichets de la misère énergétique
Beyond the ABC
La vulnérabilité sociale au défi des savoirs d'usage habitant. Les pratiques énergétiques des ménages pauvres vivant en habitat social
Embodying the Environment in Everyday Life Practices
The Elusive Subjects of Neo-Liberalism
| Citations per year | 3.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |