Green? Technology and Ecologically Unequal Exchange: The Environmental and Social Consequences of Ecological Modernization in the World-System

Authors

  • Eric Bonds University of Mary Washington
  • Liam Downey University of Colorado at Boulder

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2012.482

Abstract

This paper contributes to understandings of ecologically unequal exchange within the world-systems perspective by offering a series of case studies of ecological modernization in the automobile industry. The case studies demonstrate that ?green? technologies developed and instituted in core nations often require specific raw materials that are extracted from the periphery and semi-periphery. Extraction of such natural resources causes significant environmental degradation and often displaces entire communities from their land. Moreover, because states often use violence and repression to facilitate raw material extraction, the widespread commercialization of ?green? technologies can result in serious human rights violations. These findings challenge ecological modernization theory, which rests on the assumption that the development and commercialization of more ecologically-efficient technologies is universally beneficial.

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Published

2012-08-26

How to Cite

Bonds, E., & Downey, L. (2012). Green? Technology and Ecologically Unequal Exchange: The Environmental and Social Consequences of Ecological Modernization in the World-System. Journal of World-Systems Research, 18(2), 167–186. https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2012.482

Issue

Volume 18, Number 2, Summer 2012

Section

General Section: Articles

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