IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v224y2024ics0921800924001836.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ecological labour or why environmentally friendly practices struggle to become mainstream

Author

Listed:
  • Snikersproge, Ieva

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between work and ecological transition by exploring ecological labour among neorurals, i.e., people who have left cities to live closer to nature in the countryside. In Diois, a mountainous area in south-eastern France where I did the fieldwork on which this paper is based, neorurals have been at the forefront of inventing more ecological ways of living for fifty years, but these solutions struggle to become mainstream. The article shows that under capitalism, ecological labour – defined as a human activity that goes into producing ecologically sustainable ways of living – struggles to become a job because it is labour-intensive and gets outcompeted by less ecological, technology-intensive alternatives. In contemporary France, ecological labour can become a “green job” only in the presence of superior purchasing power, otherwise it becomes unvalorised “reproductive” labour that limits the spread of ecological solutions. As long as the primary job-creation mechanism is built on two contradictory mechanisms – gains in labour productivity and strong local purchasing power – capitalist economies remain growth-addicted economies that upset ecosystems on an industrial scale.

Suggested Citation

  • Snikersproge, Ieva, 2024. "Ecological labour or why environmentally friendly practices struggle to become mainstream," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:224:y:2024:i:c:s0921800924001836
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108286
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800924001836
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108286?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Evans, Geoff & Phelan, Liam, 2016. "Transition to a post-carbon society: Linking environmental justice and just transition discourses," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 329-339.
    2. Ieva Snikersproge, 2023. "Who are neorurals? or, How capitalist time discipline dilutes political projects and makes it difficult to propose an alternative," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 65-76, January.
    3. Bohnenberger, Katharina, 2022. "Is it a green or brown job? A Taxonomy of Sustainable Employment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    4. Magali Talandier & Yatina Calixte, 2021. "Résilience économique et disparité territoriale. Quelles leçons retenir de la crise de 2008 ?," Revue d'économie régionale et urbaine, Armand Colin, vol. 0(3), pages 361-396.
    5. Jason Hickel & Giorgos Kallis, 2020. "Is Green Growth Possible?," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 469-486, June.
    6. Pérez-Sánchez, Laura & Velasco-Fernández, Raúl & Giampietro, Mario, 2021. "The international division of labor and embodied working time in trade for the US, the EU and China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    7. Patrick Bottazzi, 2019. "Work and Social-Ecological Transitions: A Critical Review of Five Contrasting Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-19, July.
    8. Fullana Llinàs, O. & Tello Aragay, E. & Murray Mas, I. & Jover-Avellà, G. & Marull López, J., 2021. "Socio-ecological transition in a Mediterranean agroecosystem: What energy flows tell us about agricultural landscapes ruled by landlords, peasants and tourism (Mallorca, 1860-1956-2012)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    9. Ryan E. Galt, 2013. "The Moral Economy Is a Double-edged Sword: Explaining Farmers’ Earnings and Self-exploitation in Community-Supported Agriculture," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 89(4), pages 341-365, October.
    10. Ryan E. Galt, 2013. "The Moral Economy Is a Double-edged Sword: Explaining Farmers’ Earnings and Self-exploitation in Community-Supported Agriculture," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 89(4), pages 341-365, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Patrick Bottazzi & Sébastien Boillat & Franziska Marfurt & Sokhna Mbossé Seck, 2020. "Channels of Labour Control in Organic Farming: Toward a Just Agroecological Transition for Sub-Saharan Africa," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-21, June.
    2. Sara A. L. Smaal & Joost Dessein & Barend J. Wind & Elke Rogge, 2021. "Social justice-oriented narratives in European urban food strategies: Bringing forward redistribution, recognition and representation," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(3), pages 709-727, September.
    3. Pierre Chiaverina & Sophie Drogué & Florence Jacquet & Larry Lev & Robert King, 2023. "Does short food supply chain participation improve farm economic performance? A meta‐analysis," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(3), pages 400-413, May.
    4. Sean Clark, 2020. "Financial Viability of an On-Farm Processing and Retail Enterprise: A Case Study of Value-Added Agriculture in Rural Kentucky (USA)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-16, January.
    5. Monica Allaby & Graham K. MacDonald & Sarah Turner, 2021. "Growing pains: Small-scale farmer responses to an urban rooftop farming and online marketplace enterprise in Montréal, Canada," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(3), pages 677-692, September.
    6. Rachel Soper, 2020. "How wage structure and crop size negatively impact farmworker livelihoods in monocrop organic production: interviews with strawberry harvesters in California," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(2), pages 325-336, June.
    7. Claudio Vitari & Erin Whittingham, 2018. "Tackling Conventional Agriculture: The Institutionalization of Community Supported Agriculture's (CSA) Principles," Post-Print halshs-01923789, HAL.
    8. Tezcan Mert-Cakal & Mara Miele, 2020. "‘Workable utopias’ for social change through inclusion and empowerment? Community supported agriculture (CSA) in Wales as social innovation," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(4), pages 1241-1260, December.
    9. Volkov, Artiom & Morkunas, Mangirdas & Balezentis, Tomas & Streimikiene, Dalia, 2022. "Are agricultural sustainability and resilience complementary notions? Evidence from the North European agriculture," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    10. Eugenio DEMARTINI & Anna GAVIGLIO & Alberto PIRANI, 2017. "Farmers' motivation and perceived effects of participating in short food supply chains: evidence from a North Italian survey," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 63(5), pages 204-216.
    11. John J. Metz & Sarah M. Scherer, 2022. "The rise and decline of farmers markets in greater Cincinnati," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(1), pages 95-117, March.
    12. Leslie Gray & Laureen Elgert & Antoinette WinklerPrins, 2020. "Theorizing urban agriculture: north–south convergence," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 869-883, September.
    13. Enthoven, Laura & Van den Broeck, Goedele, 2021. "Local food systems: Reviewing two decades of research," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    14. Junxi Qian & Yun Ma & Xueqiong Tang, 2024. "In the frontier zone of market transition: Economic possibilities across the market/non-market divide," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(6), pages 1710-1730, September.
    15. Arnaud Z. Dragicevic, 2021. "Emergence and Dynamics of Short Food Supply Chains," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 31-55, March.
    16. Marilyn Sitaker & Jared T. McGuirt & Weiwei Wang & Jane Kolodinsky & Rebecca A. Seguin, 2019. "Spatial Considerations for Implementing Two Direct-to-Consumer Food Models in Two States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-23, April.
    17. Horst, Megan & Gwin, Lauren, 2018. "Land access for direct market food farmers in Oregon, USA," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 594-611.
    18. Sandra Volken & Patrick Bottazzi, 2024. "Sustainable farm work in agroecology: how do systemic factors matter?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 41(3), pages 1037-1052, September.
    19. Felix Zoll & Caitlin K. Kirby & Kathrin Specht & Rosemarie Siebert, 2023. "Exploring member trust in German community-supported agriculture: a multiple regression analysis," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(2), pages 709-724, June.
    20. Durant, Jennie L. & Asprooth, Lauren & Galt, Ryan E. & Schmulevich, Sasha Pesci & Manser, Gwyneth M. & Pinzón, Natalia, 2023. "Farm resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of California direct market farmers," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:224:y:2024:i:c:s0921800924001836. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.