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2
Overview
Although political ecology (PE) has a relatively short history in research and
university teaching, the field is the result of a range of theoretical influences. In this
chapter, we introduce some of the main schools or ways of thinking that have
influenced political ecology since the inception of the field in the 1970s; Marxist
political economy, human and cultural ecology, poststructuralism, peasant studies,
and critical theory.
The chapter also introduces several key concepts and theories that current
political ecology draws on as well as directions within the field and related approaches
such as environmental justice and degrowth.
2.1 Marxist Political Economy
Political economy is a term that is used for various scholarly approaches at the
interface of politics and economics. In political ecology, the political economy tradition established by Karl Marx (1818–1883) has played a key role. Marx was concerned with the organization of economic production within the capitalist system
that he saw emerging in Europe. He compared this with pre-capitalist and other
modes of production and with communism that he thought would replace capitalism. It is not the political project of Marx or his anticipation about future development that is important here, but rather the conceptual tools for social analysis he
created to understand the workings of Western capitalism.
Definition
According to a Marxist conceptual framework, a mode of production consists of
relations of production and productive forces. Relations of production primarily
include property rights and other power resources that enable decisions about
production. Productive forces are composed of natural resources, technology and
labour. Capitalists own the means of production, sell products on the market and
accumulate capital through appropriating the profits, which are used for new
investments in addition to increased wealth and consumption, while the proletariat
is forced to sell their labour. Marx was particularly concerned about how capitalism
is based on an exploitation of cheap labour, and he also briefly mentions the
exploitation of nature.
Some Marxists have since imagined that such forms of exploitation occur
especially in the meeting point (the so-called articulation) between capitalism and
other modes of production (e.g. ‘the African’) (Coquery-Vidrovitch 1975;
Meillassoux 1981; Foster 1999). This has been called the Articulation of Modes of
Production Approach, which is a Marxist branch of dependency theory (see the
fourth synthesis in 7 Chap. 1).
Chapter 2 · Theoretical Influences and Recent Directions
2
Overview
Although political ecology (PE) has a relatively short history in research and
university teaching, the field is the result of a range of theoretical influences. In this
chapter, we introduce some of the main schools or ways of thinking that have
influenced political ecology since the inception of the field in the 1970s; Marxist
political economy, human and cultural ecology, poststructuralism, peasant studies,
and critical theory.
The chapter also introduces several key concepts and theories that current
political ecology draws on as well as directions within the field and related approaches
such as environmental justice and degrowth.
2.1 Marxist Political Economy
Political economy is a term that is used for various scholarly approaches at the
interface of politics and economics. In political ecology, the political economy tradition established by Karl Marx (1818–1883) has played a key role. Marx was concerned with the organization of economic production within the capitalist system
that he saw emerging in Europe. He compared this with pre-capitalist and other
modes of production and with communism that he thought would replace capitalism. It is not the political project of Marx or his anticipation about future development that is important here, but rather the conceptual tools for social analysis he
created to understand the workings of Western capitalism.
Definition
According to a Marxist conceptual framework, a mode of production consists of
relations of production and productive forces. Relations of production primarily
include property rights and other power resources that enable decisions about
production. Productive forces are composed of natural resources, technology and
labour. Capitalists own the means of production, sell products on the market and
accumulate capital through appropriating the profits, which are used for new
investments in addition to increased wealth and consumption, while the proletariat
is forced to sell their labour. Marx was particularly concerned about how capitalism
is based on an exploitation of cheap labour, and he also briefly mentions the
exploitation of nature.
Some Marxists have since imagined that such forms of exploitation occur
especially in the meeting point (the so-called articulation) between capitalism and
other modes of production (e.g. ‘the African’) (Coquery-Vidrovitch 1975;
Meillassoux 1981; Foster 1999). This has been called the Articulation of Modes of
Production Approach, which is a Marxist branch of dependency theory (see the
fourth synthesis in 7 Chap. 1).
Chapter 2 · Theoretical Influences and Recent Directions