Privileged Irresponsibility and Global Warming Bob Pease

Transcription

1 Plenary Session Privileged Irresponsibility and Global Warming Bob Pease

2 From Resilience to Accountability of the Privileged Resilience is about the stability of a system to recover its shape after an interference. Places onus on individuals and communities to become more resilient to a range of threats. Accommodates to established and unequal social structures and neglects transformation of those structures. Ideological fit with neoliberalism. Can resilience be redeemed?

3 Privilege The word privilege is used to refer to systematically conferred advantages individuals enjoy by virtue of their membership in dominant groups with access to resources and institutional power that are beyond the common advantages of marginalised citizens (Bailey 1998: 109). Bailey, A. (1998) Privilege: Expanding on Marilyn Frye s Oppression, Journal of Social Philosophy, 29:3.

4 Western Global Dominance and Eurocentrism Political Economy and Class Elitism Gender Order and the Patriarchal Dividend Intersecting Sites of Privilege Racial Formations and White Supremacy Institutionalised Heterosexuality and Heteroprivilege Ableist Relations and the Embodiment of Privilege Pease, B. (2010) Undoing Privilege: Unearned Advantage in a Divided World. London: Zed Books.

5 The Dynamics of Privilege Invisibility of privilege Most privilege is not recognised as such by those who have it. Normativity Privileged groups become the model for normal human relations. Naturalness Gender, race, sexuality and class are regarded as flowing from nature. Sense of entitlement Members of privileged groups believe that they have a right to be respected, acknowledged, protected and rewarded.

6 Privileged groups failure to acknowledge the exercise of power. Privileged Irresponsibility Those who receive benefits from others fail to acknowledge dependence on others to live well in the world. Privileged groups absent themselves from discussion about their responsibilities (Tronto 2013)

7 Global warming is one of the most significant manifestations of privilege to face humankind. Privilege and Climate Debt The Global North (20% of the population) consumes 80% of the world s resources. Developed countries owe a climate debt to developing countries due to the former s emissions of greenhouse gases. Paris Climate Agreement pledges from the Global North are nowhere near where they should be to address a fair burden.

8 Global Warming as Structural Violence Structural violence is legitimised violence exercised by corporations and the state to reproduce social institutions. Violence against environment is a form of structural violence because the social forces contributing to disasters are obscured. Environmental violence by governments and corporations is a crime. Environmental violence is classed, gendered and raced.

9 The Conservative White Male Effect Conservative white males in the global North are the epitome of privilege. White men in government and corporations are the main drivers of environmental violence. Differences in: men s and women s carbon footprint. men s and women s understanding of climate change. men s and women s concerns about climate change.

10 Links between climate change denial and hegemonic masculinity. Hegemonic Masculinity and Climate Change Concern by class-privileged white men of protecting a particular form of patriarchal, capitalist and racially divided society. Those who contribute most to global warming are least likely to take action to address it. White class-privileged men experience forms of environmental privilege which give them a sense of safety.

11 Hegemonic Masculinity and Responses to Climate Change White class-privileged men dominate organisations responsible for addressing climate change. Climate change is framed as a technical problem. Masculinist mindset embedded in environmental management. Masculinist assumptions embedded in geo-engineering search for the technological fix. Masculinisation of environmental politics.

12 Link natural disasters to social, economic and cultural relations. What is to be Done? Shift the focus from vulnerabilities to disasters and climate change to the role of privileged groups in reproducing climate change-related disasters. Change men s dominator relationship to the natural world. Develop a critical ethic of care among men.