Viviana Asara (University of Ferrara), Emanuele Leonardi (University of Bologna) e Luigi Pellizzoni (University of Pisa)
Contact email: emanuele.leonardi3@unibo.it
Recent developments in economic sociology have shown an interdisciplinary interest in dealing with society-nature-economy relationships. As such, its community includes predominantly sociologists, but it also encompasses other social scientists with a background in political science, economic geography, anthropology, etc. What is shared within such a diverse community is a critical approach to orthodox socio-economic theories and mainstream thinking about society-nature-economy relationships. Against this background, we propose further discussion on what does ‘critical’ means nowadays, in a situation whereby fundamental political dimensions seem to have been side-lined. In this session we aim to remedy this oversight by establishing a dialogue between economic sociology and environmental politics.
Environmental politics can be approached from several perspectives. However, ‘critical’ ones depart from a problem-solving outlook, which takes for granted the state of affairs concerning social, cultural, economic and political relations, questioning the very framework whereby problems are identified and solutions devised. Critical perspectives are especially attentive to the genealogy and contestation of institutional arrangements, power differentials, agency distribution, knowledge and authority claims, reality definitions, interest and identity (self-)attributions. They are inclined to reflexively, apply critique to themselves, interrogate the grounds of their own claims. They are committed to exploring the transformative potential of alternative approaches and ongoing conflicts.
The session’s goal is twofold. Firstly, it aims to briefly present the Handbook of Critical Environmental Politics (Edward Elgar) edited by L. Pellizzoni, E. Leonardi and V. Asara, released in October 2022. Secondly, it aims to establish an interdisciplinary conversation with economic sociologists, focusing on how they approach such issues in their own specific fields.