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Noxious deindustrialization: Experiences of precarity and pollution in Scotland’s petrochemical capital

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  • Lorenzo Feltrin
  • Alice Mah
  • David Brown

Abstract

This article introduces the concept of “noxious deindustrialization†—employment deindustrialization in areas where significantly noxious industries are still operating—and explores some implications of this paradox by studying community–industry relations in the Scottish petrochemical town of Grangemouth. In the heyday of “Boomtown Grangemouth†during the first three decades after World War II, there existed an implicit social contract between the local industry and community in which male fenceline residents had widespread access to secure and well-paid employment in the factories, but the community had to accept the related pollution and hazards. This social contract gradually declined since the late 1970s due to a combination of automation, rising qualification barriers and associated long-range recruiting, and outsourcing to a partially itinerant workforce. For the Grangemouth community, this trend led to the current situation of employment deindustrialization coupled with the continuing exposure to the socioenvironmental damage and hazards engendered by operating petrochemical plants. We argue that noxious deindustrialization—with its dystopian corollaries of rising inequality and precarity, cumulative environmental degradation, and loosening community ties—is happening both globally and in local areas and that Grangemouth is a dramatic example of noxious deindustrialization on a local level, where the phenomenon has put a strain on community–industry relations.

Suggested Citation

  • Lorenzo Feltrin & Alice Mah & David Brown, 2022. "Noxious deindustrialization: Experiences of precarity and pollution in Scotland’s petrochemical capital," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 40(4), pages 950-969, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:40:y:2022:i:4:p:950-969
    DOI: 10.1177/23996544211056328
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fiona Tregenna, 2009. "Characterising deindustrialisation: An analysis of changes in manufacturing employment and output internationally," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 33(3), pages 433-466, May.
    2. Dani Rodrik, 2016. "Premature deindustrialization," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-33, March.
    3. Thom Davies, 2018. "Toxic Space and Time: Slow Violence, Necropolitics, and Petrochemical Pollution," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 108(6), pages 1537-1553, November.
    4. Mr. Ramana Ramaswamy & Mr. Bob Rowthorn, 1997. "Deindustrialization: Causes and Implications," IMF Working Papers 1997/042, International Monetary Fund.
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    Cited by:

    1. Weibo Jin & Lijie Xu & Shiping Wu & Yao Xu & Shiwen Han, 2023. "Green Development Policies for China’s Manufacturing Industry: Characteristics, Evolution, and Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-19, July.

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