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L’émergence et l’avenir de la criminologie environnementale
Abstract
Cet article propose une introduction generale a la criminologie environnementale et
a l’etude du crime environnemental. Il examine l’emergence de cette approche, les concepts
cles, les questions empiriques et les enjeux susceptibles d’etre abordes dans les futurs
travaux dans ce domaine. L’article s’interesse entre autres a l’ecojustice (relative a des
types specifiques de victimisation environnementale) et a l’ecocide (liee a la
criminalisation du dommage environnemental). Les transgressions touchant les humains, les
ecosystemes et les especes non humaines offrent un cadre general de discussion des types
specifiques de crimes et de dommages, de la peche illegale a la pollution contribuant au
rechauffement climatique. Une analyse retrospective et un tour d’horizon permettent de
tracer les grandes lignes conceptuelles, passees et presentes, de la criminologie
environnementale.
The criminological dimension of crime generally does not arouse great enthusiasm from researchers in Arab countries, unlike Anglo-Saxon- or French-speaking countries. Admittedly, Western criminology is more advanced, but it is more interested in common crimes than in mass crimes such as crimes against humanity, genocide, human trafficking or terrorism. However, the rare existing studies reveal the emergence of a criminology of massive human rights violations and expose some particularities of this criminal phenomenon. These include the often transnational nature of the crimes, the geographical, socio-economic and political disparity of criminals, the high number of victims, and more. The relationship between criminal law, criminology and human rights should be examined to determine the complementarity of the law and the empirical criminal sciences in crime prevention.
The English-speaking research field commonly referred to as “green criminology” is now well established. This situation contrasts sharply with the position in the French-language literature, despite the existence of legal contributions relating to environmental criminal law. This article points out that this bibliographic contrast is more surprising than it may seem, in that some of the pioneering contributions were published in French in the early 1980s. It then presents intellectual conditions for the emergence of green criminology, as well as the triple observation that unifies this movement despite its relative diversity: crimes against the environment are widespread; their consequences are serious; yet they are rarely punished. Considering current debates in the literature, the article emphasizes the disagreements relating to the relevant definition of the very idea of crime. Discussing the contribution of green criminology ultimately makes it possible to determine a specific position, integrating environmental crime into the broader objective of an analysis of what Michel Foucault has proposed calling the “differential management of illegality”.
Cet article s’intéresse au traitement pénal des atteintes à la nature à travers une approche de sociologie du travail judiciaire. S’appuyant sur des affaires environnementales de moyenne portée en termes de gravité des atteintes, qui sont les plus courantes au tribunal correctionnel, il analyse les activités et les interactions des différents protagonistes du procès. Il décrypte les manières dont s’opèrent, au cours de la procédure, plusieurs cadrages des infractions, impliquant des oppositions, des stratégies d’alliance et des tentatives d’accord, mettant en tension des cultures et des routines professionnelles, et témoignant du fonctionnement plus global des institutions pénales, où le moins que l’on puisse dire est que l’environnement occupe une place marginalisée.
This article focuses on the penal treatment of offences against the environment through a sociological approach to judicial work. Based on medium-range environmental cases in terms of the seriousness of the damages, which are the most common in criminal courts, it studies the activities and interactions of the various protagonists involved in the trial. It deciphers the ways in which offences are framed during the procedure, involving challenges, alliance strategies and the search for agreement, putting into tension different types of professional cultures and routines, and revealing the more global functioning of penal institutions, where the environment
occupies only a marginal place.
Although the first published use of the term ‘green criminology’ seems to have been made by Lynch (Green criminology. Aldershot, Hampshire, 1990/2006), elements of the analysis and critique represented by the term were established well before this date. There is much criminological engagement with, and analysis of, environmental crime and harm that occurred prior to 1990 that deserves acknowledgement. In this article, we try to illuminate some of the antecedents of green criminology. Proceeding in this way allows us to learn from ‘absences’, i.e. knowledge that existed but has been forgotten. We conclude by referring to green criminology not as an exclusionary label or barrier but as a symbol that guides and inspires the direction of research.
This paper uses examples from the history and practices of multi-national and large companies in the oil, chemical and asbestos industries to examine their legal and illegal despoiling and destruction of the environment and impact on human and non-human life. The discussion draws on the literature on green criminology and state-corporate crime and considers measures and arrangements that might mitigate or prevent such damaging acts. This paper is part of ongoing work on green criminology and crimes of the economy. It places these actions and crimes in the context of a global neo-liberal economic system and considers and critiques the distorting impact of the GDP model of 'economic health' and its consequences for the environment.
Poaching significantly contributes to the endangerment of protected wildlife but has rarely been studied by criminologists. This study examines whether CRAVED, a general model of theft choices drawn from routine activity and rational choice theory, can help to explain parrot poaching. It correlates estimates of the numbers poached for the 22 species of Mexican parrots with measures of CRAVED components (concealable, removable, available, valuable, enjoyable, and disposable). Widely available species and those whose chicks are easily removable from the nest are more commonly poached, a pattern suggesting that most poachers are opportunistic villagers. More valuable/disposable and more enjoyable species are rarely taken because few remain in the wild after being heavily poached for export in the 1980s. Apart from helping to explain parrot poaching and consider conservation options, the application of CRAVED suggested a possible contribution to understanding theft choices. This was that “abundant” and “accessible” might replace “available.”
A wide range of actions imperil the planet and threaten the future of humanity and other species. This essay notes some examples of crimes and harms damaging to the environment and human and non-human species as well as various forms of response that have called for more effective and appropriate models of justice and law than currently prevail. This leads to a discussion of several suggestions regarding the development and expression of an earth jurisprudence and to the history of a proposal that “ecocide” be recognised internationally as a crime. Analysis of documentary sources traces this idea from debates about the concept of genocide to consideration by United Nations officials as to how crimes against the environment might be defined, and shows how near such a proposal has previously come to acceptance and enactment. The article concludes with an argument for supporting a law of ecocide as the 5th Crime against Peace.
This volume presents reflections on a variety of environmental issues in South-Eastern Europe from diverse contemporary scientific disciplines. The contributions address many crucial issues including national environmental policies, economic instruments for preventing crimes against the environment, international waste trafficking, threats to air, water and soil due to mining, management of dump areas, environment protection and food safety from a perspective of public health. The book will be a useful resource for researchers, developers and decision makers interested in the stability and sustainable development of the South-Eastern European countries.
Environmental crimes, noncompliance and risks create significant harm to the health of humans and the natural world. Yet, the field of criminology has historically shown relatively little interest in the topic. The emergence of environmental or green criminology over the past decade marks a shift in this trend, but attempts to define a unique area of study have been extensively criticized. In the following paper, we offer a conceptual framework, called conservation criminology, designed to advance current discussions of green crime via the integration of criminology with natural resource disciplines and risk and decision sciences. Implications of the framework for criminological and general research on environmental crime and risks are discussed.
Previous discussions of green criminology have not defined the meaning of the term `green'. Here we investigate alternative definitions of this term, focusing attention on two contrasting definitions. One definition is aligned with corporate interests and emerged through corporate redefinitions of green environmentalism; we provide examples of the `green' criminology that resulted. We then offer a contrasting environmental justice definition. This alternative concept highlights common elements in social movements concerned with environmental justice while emphasizing these movements' commitment to simultaneously incorporating race, class and gender-oriented issues into green criminology.
Purpose: We are consistently confronted by disagreements between technological developments and the comfort which they entail, and striving for a clean environment that ensures long-term quality of life. Global warming, acid rain, air and water pollution are all part of modern societies with developed or developing economic and industrial systems. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the development and importance of the responses of green criminology to environmental criminality in Slovenia. Methodology: The literature review shows that Slovene criminologists became aware of the appearance and consequences of environmental crime as early as 1981, but since then criminological research into environmental crime in Slovenia declined until 2005. Findings: Although one is faced by a lack of previous criminological endeavours in the field of environmental criminality, there is no need to 'jump to conclusions'. It is increasingly obvious that the rationalization of green criminology, in terms of its deviation from vocal environmental movements and a detailed exploration of the legalization of individual legal norms is required, as is a more specific definition of green criminology. In other words, a more precise definition of what constitutes a crime against the environment would be helpful. Research limitations/implications: We live in a constantly changing modern society and, consequently, the forms of environmental crime are changing too. The review of literature revealed the very narrow direction of much research, which covered only a small part of the whole field of environmental crime. The limited research in this field highlights a need to engage with more advanced methodological approaches to aid our understanding of environmental crime. The need to adopt alternative methodologies to understand contemporary environmental threats is made all the more real as such threats are in a constant state of change. Systems of social control need to remain true to the state of the problem. At present, this is not happening due to a lack of adequate knowledge and experience. 575 Originality/Value: The presented research model represents an important starting point for our understanding changes to the nature of such threats and for ensuring appropriate legal protection of the environment in the Republic of Slovenia and for developing a body of legal and scientific expertise around this area.
Debates around the relationships between criminology and social harm are long-standing. This article sets out some of the
key features of current debates between, on the one hand, those who would retain a commitment to ‘crime’ and criminology and
those, on the other hand who would abandon criminology for a social harm perspective. To this end, the article begins by highlighting
several criticisms of criminology, criticisms raised in particular by a diverse group of critical criminologists over the
past 30 to 40years. While these are hardly new, the rehearsal of these is an important starting point for a discussion of
the potential of the development of an alternative discipline. The paper then proposes a number of reasons why a disciplinary
approach organised around a notion of social harm may prove to be more productive than has criminology hitherto: that is,
may have the potential for greater theoretical coherence and imagination, and for more political progress.
This unique study of social harm offers a systematic and critical discussion of the nature of environmental harm from an eco-justice perspective, challenging conventional criminological definitions of environmental harm. The book evaluates three interconnected justice-related approaches to environmental harm: environmental justice (humans), ecological justice (the environment) and species justice (non-human animals). It provides a critical assessment of environmental harm by interrogating key concepts and exploring how activists and social movements engage in the pursuit of justice. It concludes by describing the tensions between the different approaches and the importance of developing an eco-justice framework that to some extent can reconcile these differences. Using empirical evidence built on theoretical foundations with examples and illustrations from many national contexts, ‘Environmental harm’ will be of interest to students and academics in criminology, sociology, law, geography, environmental studies, philosophy and social policy all over the world.
While the notion of social harm has long interested critical criminologists it is now being explored as an alternative field of study, which provides more accurate analyses of the vicissitudes of life. However, important aspects of this notion remain undeveloped, in particular the definition of social harm, the question of responsibility and the methodologies for studying harm. This book, the first to theorise and define the social harm concept beyond criminology, seeks to address these omissions and questions why some capitalist societies appear to be more harmful than others Using a social harm lens Harmful Societies compares rates of harms across 31 OECD countries. Drawing on a range of social harm measures such as suicide, road traffic injuries, obesity, poverty, long working hours, unemployment and social isolation, these analyses demonstrate that similarly-placed capitalist societies vary greatly in their ability to protect populations from these harms. Through a typology of harm reduction regimes it identifies the features of societies that serve to either reduce or generate harms. The book concludes that harm is not inevitable, but rather a product of the way we choose to organise the societies in which we live.
This unique study of social harm offers a systematic and critical discussion of the nature of environmental harm from an eco-justice perspective, challenging conventional criminological definitions of environmental harm. The book evaluates three interconnected justice-related approaches to environmental harm: environmental justice (humans), ecological justice (the environment) and species justice (non-human animals). It provides a critical assessment of environmental harm by interrogating key concepts and exploring how activists and social movements engage in the pursuit of justice. It concludes by describing the tensions between the different approaches and the importance of developing an eco-justice framework that to some extent can reconcile these differences. Using empirical evidence built on theoretical foundations with examples and illustrations from many national contexts, ‘Environmental harm’ will be of interest to students and academics in criminology, sociology, law, geography, environmental studies, philosophy and social policy all over the world.
Green criminology means different things to different people. Ostensibly ‘green criminology’ emerged in the early 1990s to describe a critical and sustained approach to the study of environmental crime. However, the tasks described by the term had in fact been undertaken well before the 1990s. The critical study of environmental crime thus predates green criminology as such.
In recent years, the increasing focus on climate change and environmental degradation has prompted unprecedented attention being paid towards the criminal liability of individuals, organisations and even states for polluting activities. These developments have given rise to a new area of criminological study, often called ‘green criminology’. Yet in all the theorising that has taken place in this area, there is still a marked absence of specific focus on those actually suffering harm as a result of environmental degradation. This book represents a unique attempt to substantively conceptualise and examine the place of such ‘environmental victims’ in criminal justice systems both nationally and internationally.
Over the past ten years, the study of environmental harm and 'crimes against nature' has become an increasingly popular area of research amongst criminologists. This book represents the fi rst international, comprehensive and introductory text for green criminology, offering a concise exposition of theory and concepts and providing extensive geographical coverage, diversity and depth to the many issues pertaining to environmental harm and crime. Divided into three sections, the book draws on a range of international case studies and examples, and looks at the conceptual and methodological foundations of green criminology, before examining in detail areas of environmental crime and harm, and how they are addressed, including: • climate change and social conflict; • abuse and harm to animals; • threats to bio-diversity; • pollution and toxic waste; • environmental victims; • environmental regulation, law enforcement and courts; • environmental forensic studies; • environmental crime prevention. Green Criminology is packed with pedagogical features, including dialogue boxes, case examples, discussion questions and lists of further reading and is perfect for students around the world engaged with green criminology and crime against the environment
This chapter discusses the importance and content of the criminology of climate change. It describes key terms and how climate change takes the aspect of a “slow crisis”. The chapter provides an outline of different kinds of crimes that are associated with climate change and its consequences. It concludes by introducing the chapters that comprise the rest of the book.
At the centre of eco-global criminology is analysis of transnational environmental crime. This includes crimes related to pollution (of air, water and land) and crimes against wildlife (including illegal trade in ivory as well as live animals). It also includes those harms that pose threats to the environment more generally (such as global warming). In addressing these issues, the book deals with topics such as the conceptualization of environmental crime or harm, the researching of transnational environmental harm, climate change and social conflict, threats to biodiversity, toxic waste and the transference of harm, prosecution and sentencing of environmental crimes, and environmental victimization and transnational activism.
The article examines how the principle of ICE, which builds on the thinking of prominent philosophers, can be recognized as a live principle that has reached the statute books and international negotiating tables, offering both a written realization of the theory and obliging states to incorporate it into mainstream decision-making. Contemporary and past philosophers and social theorists have written and discussed the philosophical definition of ICE, and many logicians have studiously prepared logical propositions for the soundest arguments to support these definitions. Many of these discussions offer invaluable theories as to how IGE can be defined and no doubt many of them have been influential in the international as well as domestic spheres of governance. The Commissioner is empowered to carry out investigations in relation to all issues that may affect citizens' constitutional rights to a healthy environment.
Drawing on the work of Allan Schnaiberg, this book returns political economy to green criminology and examines how the expansion of capitalism shapes environmental law, crime and justice. The book is organized around crimes of ecological withdrawals and ecological additions.
The five chapters that compose an introduction to the study of "environmental crime" define it, review the history of the environmental movement in America, discuss the economics and politics linked to environmental protection, present a social perspective of the natural sciences, and provide an overview of Federal environmental legislation. Five chapters address an interagency approach to the enforcement of environmental protection legislation. They focus on the Federal environmental regulatory structure, State and local environmental enforcement, policing the environment, environmental-crime prosecution at the county level, and sentencing the environmental criminal. The five chapters on the identification of essential connections in countering environmental crime distinguish five types of environmental criminals and discuss environmental ethics, criminal law, and environmental crime; the identification of environmental crime; international environmental issues; and current research findings and future research needs regarding environmental crime. The five case studies presented involve community opposition to hazardous waste incineration (ENSCO case), legacies of the past and projections for the future in hazardous waste regulation, a plea bargain in a case of environmental crime (Rocky Flats), controversy surrounding the reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act, and environmental crimes at the U.S.-Mexico border. In closing comments, the book's editor notes that the chapters presented represent only one editor's vision of several critical areas of environmental crime and countermeasures that require further study. Because research on environmental crime and the nature and effectiveness of countermeasures is in its infancy, the shaping of future research directions should have high priority
This article explores the political, economic and ecological context within which environmental insecurity emerges and feeds back into a fortress mentality. Shortages of food, water and energy sources are the trigger for nefarious activities involving organized criminal networks, transnational corporations and governments at varying political levels. The consequences of such activities contribute to even more ruthless exploitation of rapidly vanishing natural resources, as well as the further diminishment of air, soil and water quality. These developments, in turn, exacerbate the competitive scramble by individuals, groups and nations for what is left. The accompanying insecurities and vulnerabilities ensure elite and popular support for self-interested ‘security’. Accordingly, the ‘fortress’ is being constructed and reconstructed at individual, local, national and regional levels—as both an attitude of mind and a material reality. Fundamentally, the basis for this fortress mentality is linked to decades of neo-liberal policy and practice that have embedded an individualizing and competitive self-interest that, collectively, is overriding prudent and precautionary policy construction around climate change and environmental degradation. The net result is that security is being built on a platform of state, corporate and organized group wrongdoing and injustice, in many instances with the implied and/or overt consent of relevant publics. Yet, as long as the fortification continues apace, it will contribute to and further exacerbate varying levels of insecurity for all.
This article sketches out three broad philosophical frameworks relating to the human/environment nexus—the anthropocentric, biocentric and ecocentric perspectives. It is argued that acknowledgement of these different perspectives is essential in any analysis of environmental harm. To illustrate the importance of an `ecological imagination', each philosophy is considered in relation to the regulation and use of old-growth forest.
After providing an overview of climate change and its effects, this article draws on the leading crime theories to discuss the potential impact of climate change on crime. It is argued that climate change will increase strain, reduce social control, weaken social support, foster beliefs favorable to crime, contribute to traits conducive to crime, increase certain opportunities for crime, and create social conflict. An overall model of climate change and crime is then presented, along with suggestions for research. Even though neglected by criminologists, there is good reason to believe that climate change will become one of the major forces driving crime as the century progresses.
In the last two decades classical sociology, notably Marx, has been mined for environmental insights in the attempt to surmount the “human exemptionalism” of post–Second World War sociology. Weber, however, has remained an enigma in this respect. This article addresses Weber’s approach to the environment, including its significance for his interpretive-causal framework and his understanding of capitalism. For Weber, sociological meanings were often anchored in biophysical realities, including climate change, resource consumption, and energy scarcity, while environmental influences were refracted in complex ways within cultural reproduction. His work thus constitutes a crucial key to constructing a meaningful postexemptionalist sociology.
This article outlines the significance of green issues for criminology. It proposes the development of a green `perspective' which could serve as a rallying-point and foundational base for otherwise disparate but relevant and related work. The paper reviews past studies which may be seen as contributing to such a foundational base and provisionally suggests 10 areas where green issues connect with established and/or new criminological concerns.
This study provides a descriptive account of rationalizations for poaching used by wildlife law violators. There has been little research on motivations for poaching. This study uses qualitative data obtained from surveys and in-depth interviews with wildlife law violators and conservation officers in Kentucky to examine rationalizations used by wildlife law violators to excuse and justify participation in this type of illegal activity. Comments from conservation officers and violators revealed widespread use of rationalizations, with denial of responsibility being most common. The study also used claims of entitlement, defense of necessity, and denial of necessity of the law. Findings contribute to our knowledge of why people illegally take wildlife resources.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) secured an agreement in 1989 among its member states to
ban the international trade in ivory. This disruption of the international ivory market was intended to reverse a sharp decline
in the African elephant population, which resulted from widespread poaching for ivory in the previous decade. The continent's
overall population of elephants increased after the ban, but an analysis of elephant population data from 1979 to 2007 found
that some of the 37 countries in Africa with elephants continued to lose substantial numbers of them. This pattern is largely
explained by the presence of unregulated domestic ivory markets in and near countries with declines in elephant populations.
This paper explores the relationship between legitimate corporations that generate hazardous waste and elements of organized crime with whom they contract for the removal, treatment, or disposition of those wastes. The scope and importance of hazardous waste as a social problem is first described and the variety of organized crime participation in waste handling is summarized. The paper then explores the factors that enabled organized crime to become active in this sector of the economy. Lax implementation and en forcement, the most common explanations, are discussed. The formation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 is analyzed to show that there was a prior and more fundamental factor: large corporate generators of hazardous waste fought for a regulatory structure that would prove to be highly vulnerable to organized crime intrusion. This fact is then used to discuss and critique two current explanations of the relationship of corporate generators to organized crime waste handlers: “ignorance” and “powerlessness.” Finally, it is argued that although generators did not consciously intend to facilitate organized crime entry into hazardous waste hauling, they did subsequently enjoy tangible benefits from that entry.
The change in the Earth's climate caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may be the most important environmental legacy that we leave to our descendants.
Global change raises difficult issues of equity between our generation and future generations, and between different communities within future generations. International law is accustomed to addressing the effects of intentional environmental change on people who are already alive. It needs to be augmented by principles of intergenerational equity. We have certain obligations to future generations to pass on a planet in no worse condition than we received it and to give them equitable access to its resources.
This requires a global strategy for climate change which will prevent excessively rapid climate change, prevent or mitigate the damage caused by climate change, and help countries to adapt to climate change. We need to avoid imposing major costs on future generations for our own benefit.
To implement this strategy will require enforceable norms of behavior, which should be embodied in a Declaration of Planetary Rights and Obligations to Future Generations, and implemented in appropriate treaties and national and local legislation. Agreements should be drafted in such a way that they can incorporate increases in scientific understanding, for example by the creation of scientific advisory committees.
This monograph presents a selection of reflections on environmental issues in South-Eastern Europe from diverse contemporary
scientific disciplines. The chapters present a variety of crucial issues regarding definitions and aspects of national environmental
policies, situational prevention of threats to the environment, economic instruments in prevention of crimes against the environment,
international waste trafficking, definitions and aspects of environmental (green) criminology, detecting and investigating
of crimes against the environment, investigation of crimes against the environment, post-disaster management of explosions,
prevention of ecological risks in relation to spring zones of surface waters, nanotechnology, threats to air, water and soil
in relation to mining, management of dump areas, risk factors of hospital wastewater, environment protection and food safety
from perspectives of public health, risk analysis, safe food production, application of dialectical systems theory in problem
solving following environmental disasters, environmental risks and human security, and environmental conflict analysis. The
authors present diverse perspectives and come from South Eastern and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the United States.
The world is rapidly changing due to climate change and the systematic depletion of natural resources. This paper provides
a glimpse over the horizon of issues likely to be of interest to European criminology in the not so distant future. Our concern
is to identify a set of issues and trends that have significant theoretical, methodological and policy implications for those
with an interest in transnational environmental crime. The concerns range from the social consequences of climate change through
to the use of the subterranean spaces of the planet as a toxic repository. This paper presents a brief summary of several
horizon issues and explores the implications of these for criminological research and intervention. The paper provides an
introduction and overview of environmental horizon scanning as informed by eco-global criminological considerations.
KeywordsEco-global criminology–Environmental horizon scanning–Transnational environmental crime–Futures orientation
Crime: Local and Global covers the way local events (such as prostitution) have wider aspects than previously thought. Links with people traffickers, international organised crime and violence cannot be ignored any longer. Each crime or area of activity selected within this text has a global reach, and is made ever more possible due to the way globalisation has opened up markets, both legitimate and illegitimate. The book's approach and scope emphasises that we can no longer view 'crime' as something which occurs within certain jurisdictions, at certain times and in particular places. For example, the chapter on cybercrime highlights the 'illegal' acts that can be perpetrated by second lifers, anywhere in the world, but are they a crime?
Britainâs supremacy in the nineteenth century depended in large part on its vast deposits of coal. This coal not only powered steam engines in factories, ships, and railway locomotives but also warmed homes and cooked food. As coal consumption skyrocketed, the air in Britainâs cities and towns became filled with ever-greater and denser clouds of smoke. In this far-reaching study, Peter Thorsheim explains that, for much of the nineteenth century, few people in Britain even considered coal smoke to be pollution. To them, pollution meant miasma: invisible gases generated by decomposing plant and animal matter. Far from viewing coal smoke as pollution, most people considered smoke to be a valuable disinfectant, for its carbon and sulfur were thought capable of rendering miasma harmless. Inventing Pollution examines the radically new understanding of pollution that emerged in the late nineteenth century, one that centered not on organic decay but on coal combustion. This change, as Peter Thorsheim argues, gave birth to the smoke-abatement movement and to new ways of thinking about the relationships among humanity, technology, and the environment.
Written just one hundred years ago, Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class ([1899] 1994) still represents a powerful critique of the neoclassical theory of consumption. In contrast to the individual's static maximization of utility according to exogenous preferences, as posited by the neoclassical approach, Veblen develops an evolutionary framework in which preferences are determined socially in relation to the positions of individuals in the social hierarchy. According to Veblen's theory of conspicuous consumption, individuals emulate the consumption patterns of other individuals situated at higher points in the hierarchy. The social norms that govern such emulation change as the economy and its social fabric evolve over time. Alongside a continuing, though limited, role in mainstream economics (Bagwell and Bernheim 1996; Basmann et al. 1988), the theory of conspicuous consumption has in recent years also been subjected to considerable criticism from outside of this mainstream. Three main issues have been raised. First, it has been argued that Veblen's approach is too restrictive in relying on the "trickle down" of consumption patterns from the top of the social hierarchy. The pacesetters for consumption may also be those at the bottom of the hierarchy (Fine and Leopold 1993; Lears 1993). It follows from this position that conspicuous consumption lacks generality as a theory of consumption since it applies only to luxury goods. Second, since Veblen's day it has been argued that consumers no longer display their wealth conspicuously. Status is conveyed in more sophisticated and subtle ways (Canterbery 1998; Mason 1998). And third, for those writing in the postmodern tradition, consumer behavior is no longer shaped by positions of s ocial class but by lifestyles that cut across the social hierarchy (Featherstone 1991; McIntyre 1992). In this paper we show that to some extent these arguments misrepresent Veblen's original conception of conspicuous consumption and take it out of context in relation to his overall framework. In addition, in order to develop a contemporary response to these arguments we examine the possible contribution that can be made using the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the sociologist and anthropologist who has been described as "France's leading living social theorist" (Shusterman 1999, 1).
The ordinary acts that contribute to ecocide : A criminological analysis
- R Agnew
Agnew, R. (2013). The ordinary acts that contribute to ecocide : A criminological analysis. Dans N. South et A. Brisman (dir), Routledge International
Handbook of Green Criminology (p. 58-72). Londres, Royaume-Uni : Routledge.
Confronting Animal Abuse : Law, Criminology, and Human-Animal Relationships
- P Beirne
Beirne, P. (2009). Confronting Animal Abuse : Law, Criminology, and Human-Animal
Relationships. New York, NY : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.