Nature and the Myth of a Sustainable Capitalism: On the environmentalist transformation of capitalism and its potential in overcoming the environmental crisis

Carton, Wim

4. term

Development and International Relations, Master

2009

77

This thesis examines whether capitalism can be transformed through environmentalism to resolve the environmental crisis. It argues that the roots of problems such as climate change lie not in poor resource management or missing technologies but in the profit-driven growth dynamics of capitalism. Using a historical and theoretical social-science approach grounded mainly in Marxist political economy, the study reconstructs the longstanding contradiction between capital accumulation and the regenerative limits of nature. It then analyzes environmentalism as a system adaptation, drawing on Polanyi’s idea of a double movement and Gramsci’s concepts of hegemony and passive revolution, to show how green reforms tend to secure continued accumulation rather than protect ecosystems. A brief review of policy instruments widely promoted by governments and firms, including cost internalization, illustrates why such measures address symptoms while leaving underlying socio-economic drivers intact. The thesis concludes that an environmentalist reconfiguration of capitalism cannot deliver ecological sustainability unless the basic capital–nature contradiction and patterns of exploitation are directly confronted; the environmental crisis is therefore fundamentally cultural and political, not merely technical.

Dette speciale undersøger, om kapitalismen kan omdannes gennem miljøisme og grønne reformer til at løse miljøkrisen. Det anfører, at rødderne til problemer som klimaforandringer ikke skyldes dårlig ressourceforvaltning eller manglende teknologi, men kapitalismens profitorienterede vækstdynamik. Med en historisk og teoretisk samfundsvidenskabelig tilgang, hovedsageligt forankret i marxistisk politisk økonomi, rekonstruerer studiet den langvarige modsigelse mellem kapitalakkumulation og naturens regenerative grænser. Derefter analyseres miljøisme som en systemisk tilpasning med inspiration fra Polanyis begreb om den dobbelte bevægelse og Gramscis begreber om hegemoni og passiv revolution for at vise, hvordan grønne reformer typisk sikrer fortsat akkumulation frem for at beskytte økosystemer. En kort gennemgang af politiske virkemidler, som regeringer og virksomheder ofte fremmer, herunder omkostningsinternalisering, illustrerer hvorfor sådanne tiltag behandler symptomerne, men lader de underliggende samfundsøkonomiske drivkræfter være urørte. Specialet konkluderer, at en miljøistisk omkonfiguration af kapitalismen ikke kan levere økologisk bæredygtighed, medmindre den grundlæggende kapital-natur-modsigelse og udbyttemønstre konfronteres direkte; miljøkrisen er derfor i sin kerne kulturel og politisk, ikke blot teknisk.

[This apstract has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project full text]

sustainability ; environmentalism ; marx ; polanyi ; gramsci ; capitalism

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