13) March 1 Power: Human-Human And Human-Nature

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Power: human-human and human-nature

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Bookchin, Murray (2005, original publication date1990). "Chapter 27. Society and Ecology." In John S. Dryzek and David Schlosberg, eds. Debating the Earth: The Environmental Politics Reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 385-398.

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1) Basic argument

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We need to include the increasing power of humans over other humans during the past ten thousand years as one cause of the increasing power of humans over nature.

( See Bookchin reading, for instance reader p. 264: "Whatever has turned human beings into 'aliens' in nature are social changes that have made humans 'aliens' in their own social world: the domination of the young by the old, of women by men, and of men be men. ... Until society can be reclaimed ... all ecological problems will have their roots in social problems.")

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Humans once saw themselves as part of nature,

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Humans in small, nomadic hunter-gatherer groups once saw themselves as connected by bonds of equality and co-operation,

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but now see themselves as separate and dominant (anthropocentrism)

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now in industrialized societies see themselves as separated by class, individualism and subject to the coercive power of market and state.
Both of these changes can be explained by the development and increase of social (human-human) power.

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Forms of power

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Physical power
Animate power
Human power

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Physical power

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inanimate = energy = ability to do work

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Animate power

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the ability of animals (including humans) to do work

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Human power

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the ability to achieve one's objective by influencing the actions of other humans

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Power in the non-human world

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. physical; eg, earthquake
. animate; eg, hunting animal kills and eats prey
. power of the ecosystem: the system influences its environment, beyond the sum of its animate and inanimate parts

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Power in the human world

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. agency; eg, A commands B, depends on overt action of A
. structural; eg, A influences actions of B, without command or any overt action (B knows the probable agency action of A and behaves so as to avoid it) power of the system; eg, economic system collapse 2008; state system collapse 1914

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3) Comments on Bookchin reading

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unlike deep ecology, which advocates abandoning civilization, Bookchin argues human civilization should continue to evolve toward equality and co-operation (and separate from nature) while remaining grounded in its connections to nature

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4) The origins of human power

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See Mann, Michael (1986). The sources of social power: Volume I A history of power from the beginning to A.D. 1760. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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. human-human power

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did not exist prior to first development, of fixed settlements, drawing food from agriculture
(10,000 years ago)

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. hunter-gather society: 2 characteristics:

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1) considerable leisure time, working only a limited number hours per day (presumably due to low demand);
2.) egalitarian social relations; no dominant class or leader could exert coercive power

. lived in small groups (to ensure environment could supply adequate food);
no fixed territorial boundaries;
regularly interacted with other small groups for marriage to avoid inter-breeding;
individual could move from one group to another (freedom)

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. Mann's picture of stages in evolution of power:

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. egalitarian society - original hunter-gather
1→ rank society - authority (consent freely) is given to leaders, but it is limited and can be taken away by the group
2→ development of state - political control by an elite, resting on authority, but also "physical violence"
3→ stratification - p. 38 "the permanent, institutionalized power of some over the material life chances of others"; results from evolution of economy, religion and military
4 → civilization - literate; hierarchical, stratified; within small city area; Mann, p. 38 uses metaphor of the "social cage" - the individual is caged in terms of both territory and social relations

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Basic question:
why did human-human power emerge?
Mann argues

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social science has no one clear answer, but it seems to be related to (1)technological change, (2)population pressure, (3)availability of richly arable land at deltas of rivers, (4) development of religion and (5) military power.

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For whatever reason, the basic variable seems to be organization.
(See Bookchin, reader p. 257 pointing to "structured form" of human society, compared to non-human.)

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Organization is a source of human power because actions of individuals within the organization are co-ordinated, focussed upon the same objective in time and space.
That ability to co-ordinate depends upon
-authority (consent freely given);
- coercive agency power (threat);
-and structural power (individuals obey without need for overt agency power).

The effectiveness of organization (and size of organizations) has increased with improved technology and improved managerial skill.

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5. Subsequent development of human power

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5.1 Access to fossil fuel and nuclear energy
5.2 The state
5.3 The business corporation

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5.1 Access to fossil fuel and nuclear energy

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. enormous increase in the amount of physical power which can be used
in human-human and human-nature power

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5.2 The state

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. modern state emerged in 17th c. Europe due to developments in technology of transportation and communication and of organization (bureaucracy)

. the Manhattan project which developed the atomic bomb (York reading, p. 197) is a striking example of the ability of the modern state to use organization and science-based technology to create human-human and human-nature power

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5.3 The business corporation

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. firms like General Motors have annual revenues greater than those of many states

. mining, chemical, agricultural and other firms are examples of firm's ability to use organization (human-human power) to exert considerable human-nature power

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6) Connections to other causes

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. in particular to technology; changes in:
(1)military technology, (2)transportation and (3)communication
have assisted development of human-human power

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7) Implications of this argument

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. if development and subsequent expansion of human power is a cause of the ecological crisis, then surely it has to be
(1) reduced - eg, abandon nuclear technology; decentralize states and firms; and,
(2) shared more equitably, eg through wealth transfer from rich to poor

. this takes us back to one of the course themes, the competition between
two visions:
. efficiency, leading to economic development
. equity, leading to Bookchin's vision of co-operation amongst humans and between humans and nature

. suggests environmentalism (to be discussed next week) can only be successful if it operates as part of a larger social movement seeking increased equity