Eve Passerini
Abstract
The use of sustainable development rhetoric in public policy, social movements, and industry has grown dramatically around the world over the past decade. Unfortunately, few social scientists have turned their critical eye on this development, and it is difficult to say what this shift means or whether it is producing any real social change. This study is a cross-cultural, comparative case study of three communities - one in the Midwest US, one in the South-East US, and one in the Eastern Czech Republic - each of which hoped to become a "sustainable community" in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Research methods included in-depth interviews with over 30 sustainability claimsmakers and local citizens, as well as analysis of hundreds of written documents. The results question the conventional wisdom associated with sustainability projects. First, it found a wide gulf between the rhetoric and reality of these sustainable communities. Second, it found that sustainability claimsmaking does not represent a wholesale shift in perspective, although it does contain some interesting postmodern elements. Third, the symbolic meanings of sustainability were explored, and it was noted that claimsmakers use sustainability rhetoric to negotiate the changing nature of community, nature, economic growth, and class - often in ways not recognized by either the public or academics. Fourth, while most informants blamed individuals for the failure of sustainability projects, this study offers some alternative structural and cultural reasons. Finally, the popular theory that disasters open a “window of opportunity” for social change was questioned based on the results of this study.
Ph.D. in Sociology
University of Colorado Boulder
1999
Committee Members
Dennis Mileti (Chair)
Joyce Nielsen
Paul Wehr
Janet Jacobs
Gary Marx