Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Organization & Environment
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Buttel, F. H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
 Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Environmental Sociology and the Explanation of Environmental Reform

Frederick H. Buttel

University of Wisconsin, Madison

This article makes the case that environmental sociology is in the midst of a significant shift of problematics, from the explanation of environmental degradation to the explanation of environmental reform. In this article, the author suggests that there are four basic mechanisms of environmental reform or improvement: environmental activism/movements, state environmental regulation, ecological modernization, and international environmental governance. He suggests further that although `green consumerism' is one of the most frequently discussed mechanisms of environmental improvement within environmental sociology and in movement discourse, green consumerist arguments generally tend to rest on one or more of the other four mechanisms of environmental reform. One of the main tasks of environmental sociology will be to assess which of these four mechanisms is the most fundamental to environmental reform. The author concludes with the hypothesis that environmental movements and activism are ultimately the most fundamental pillars of environmental reform.

Key Words: environmental movements • environmental regulation • ecological modernization • environmental policy • international environmental regimes

Organization & Environment, Vol. 16, No. 3, 306-344 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/1086026603256279


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
Journal of Consumer CultureHome page
J. Connolly and A. Prothero
Green Consumption: Life-politics, risk and contradictions
Journal of Consumer Culture, March 1, 2008; 8(1): 117 - 145.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
Organization EnvironmentHome page
P. Widener
Oil Conflict in Ecuador: A Photographic Essay
Organization Environment, March 1, 2007; 20(1): 84 - 105.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
Organization EnvironmentHome page
T. J. Kallio and P. Nordberg
The Evolution of Organizations and Natural Environment Discourse: Some Critical Remarks
Organization Environment, December 1, 2006; 19(4): 439 - 457.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
Organization EnvironmentHome page
A. P. J. Mol
From Environmental Sociologies to Environmental Sociology?: A Comparison of U.S. and European Environmental Sociology
Organization Environment, March 1, 2006; 19(1): 5 - 27.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
Organization EnvironmentHome page
F. H. Buttel
The Treadmill of Production: An Appreciation, Assessment, and Agenda for Research
Organization Environment, September 1, 2004; 17(3): 323 - 336.
[Abstract] [PDF]