Nature, Raw Materials, and Political Economy, Volume 10 (Research in Rural Sociology and Development)

The papers in this volume push the study of the multifaceted nature-society relationship and the socioeconomic consequences of human dependence on nature forward in a variety of areas. In the first section, "Theoretical Foundations", the five chapters lay out theoretical models for examining the nature-society relationship. The chapters examine the roles of material process, space, and time in shaping social processes of economic ascent and long term hegemonic change, as well as the role of the analysis of raw materials in environmental sociology. In the second section, "Commodities, Extraction and Frontiers", a series of case studies covering a range of industries, locations and historical periods present a variety of applications of the political economy of natural resources to critical issues regarding commodities, extraction and frontiers. The case study industries include oil, steel, transport, furs, sugar and Brazil nuts, and the chapters examine regions in Latin America, North America, and Asia. In the third section, "Connecting Political and Economic Change", four chapters focus on the relationship between raw materials, economic change, and socioeconomic change. These chapters examine long term economic and political change and the relationship between political and economic change in Latin America and Africa Cover......Page 1 Nature, Raw Materials, and Political Economy......Page 4 Contents......Page 6 List of Contributors......Page 10 Editorial Advisory Board......Page 12 Introduction......Page 14 The Political Economy of Nature and the Concept of Rent......Page 15 Commodity-Based Analysis and Linkage Theory......Page 21 The Contributions of this volume to the Political Economy of Nature and Raw Materials......Page 26 Future Directions for Research......Page 30 References......Page 32 Introduction......Page 36 Matter, Space, and the Logic of Production......Page 38 Matter, Space, Technology, and Trade: Building a Model of Globalization......Page 39 How Modern Social Scientific Analysis Neglects Space and Nature......Page 44 How Earlier Analyses of Local Materio-Spatial Configurations can Enhance Contemporary Analyses of Globalization......Page 49 Innis's Materio-Spatial Explanations of Canada's Economic History......Page 52 Conclusion: Raw Materials, Economic Ascent, and Underdevelopment in the Production of Globalization......Page 55 References......Page 56 Introduction......Page 58 The ‘‘Political Sociologization’’ of Sociology and Environmental Sociology......Page 61 The Paradoxes of Early American Environmental Sociology......Page 62 Theoretical and Empirical Paradoxes and the Future Agenda for Environmental Sociology......Page 66 Concluding Remarks......Page 73 Notes......Page 74 References......Page 75 For a Sociology of ’Socionature’: Ontology and the Commodity-Based Approach......Page 78 Introduction......Page 79 Advantages of Ant for the Sociology of Socionature......Page 81 The Transformation of Sociology's Object of Inquiry......Page 83 Asymmetrical Interrelation of Nature and Society......Page 84 ’Socionature’ and the Co-construction of Nature and Society......Page 85 Addressing Challenges to a Sociology of Socionature: Bunker's Commodity-Based Approach and Conjoint Constitution......Page 88 The Agency of Nature......Page 89 Intentionality and Humanism......Page 92 Linking the ’Local’ and the ’Global’ in Theory......Page 94 Periodization of Socionatural Change......Page 96 Conclusion......Page 97 Notes......Page 98 References......Page 101 Introduction......Page 106 Social Time, Human Behavior, and Environmental Outcomes......Page 107 Temporal Grains and Temporal Fallacies......Page 110 Time, Uncertainty, and the Burden of Proof......Page 111 Hierarchies of Social Time......Page 113 Hierarchies of Ecological Time......Page 114 Socio-Ecological Hierarchies and Deforestation......Page 117 Conclusion......Page 121 Notes......Page 122 References......Page 123 Introduction: Hegemony and Accumulation......Page 126 Arrighi's Cycles of Accumulation......Page 128 Bunker's Materio-Spatial Model of Ascent......Page 133 Return to Crisis Theory......Page 141 Hegemony and Local Change......Page 145 Notes......Page 148 References......Page 149 Introduction......Page 154 Global Economic Restructuring and Commodity Chains......Page 157 Bringing in Bunker: Extraction and Transport of Raw Materials......Page 162 References......Page 168 Sunk Costs, Resource Extractive Industries, and Development Outcomes......Page 172 Introduction......Page 173 What are Sunk Costs?......Page 175 Physical Characteristics of Investment......Page 176 Investment Specificity and Remoteness......Page 177 Transaction Costs......Page 178 Extractive Industries and Sunk Costs......Page 179 Investments in Extractive Industries: Specific, Remote and Lumpy......Page 180 Sunk Investments, Industry Organization, and Development Outcomes......Page 182 Sunk Costs and Strategic Behavior in Extractive Industries......Page 183 Sunk Costs, Uncertainty, and Investment in Extractive Industries......Page 187 Sunk Costs and the Structural Evolution of the Economy......Page 189 Sunk Costs and Path Dependency in Extractive Industries......Page 190 Sunk Costs and Dutch Disease Effects in Extractive Economies......Page 191 Policy and Research Implications for Extractive Industries with Sunk Costs......Page 194 Notes......Page 196 References......Page 197 Japan's Economic Ascent and its Extraction of Wealth from its Raw Materials Peripheries......Page 200 Introduction......Page 201 New Historical Materialism and Generative Sectors......Page 203 Steel and Midas in Japan......Page 205 Ships, Shipbuilding, and The Midas......Page 210 Creating and Extracting Wealth from Japan's Raw Materials Peripheries......Page 213 Conclusion......Page 215 References......Page 217 A Perpetual Extractive Frontier? The History of Offshore Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico......Page 222 Introduction......Page 223 The Bunkerian Framework......Page 224 The Physical Aspects of Offshore Petroleum Extraction in the GOM......Page 226 From Wetlands to Open Water......Page 229 The Contradictions of Offshore Expansion in the 1960s......Page 231 The ‘‘Bright Spot’’ Era......Page 233 The Area-Wide Leasing System......Page 235 The Limits and Constraints on Offshore Development in the GOM......Page 236 Notes......Page 239 References......Page 240 Commodity Frontier as Contested Periphery: The Fur Trade in Iroquoia, New York and Canada, 1664–1754......Page 244 Introduction: Fur as Commodity Frontier, Commodity Frontier as Contested Periphery......Page 245 Geopolitics vs. Markets in Colonial New York's Fur Trade, 1664–1754......Page 248 French and Iroquois Expansion, English Restructuring, 1664–1689......Page 250 Core Conflict, Iroquois Defeat, and Beaver Shortage/Glut, 1689–1701......Page 255 French ‘‘Fur Trade Imperialism,’’ English Fur Mercantilism, Iroquois Neutralism, 1701–1730S......Page 257 From Contested Periphery Toward Peripheral People between Hegemonic Rivals, 1730S–1754......Page 260 Notes......Page 262 References......Page 263 Extraction, Gender and Neoliberalism in the Western Amazon......Page 266 Introduction: The Extractive Question and Amazon Development......Page 267 Extraction and Stagnation: Revanchist Drag or Sustainable Development?......Page 269 The Labor Question in Extraction......Page 270 Invisibility and Women......Page 274 From Demonization to Deliverance: The New Narrative of Extraction......Page 276 From Modernization to Neoliberal Development......Page 279 The Castanha Projects: Trouble in Paradise #1: The Factory......Page 280 Trouble in Paradise #2: Decentralized Production......Page 282 Structure of Income and Labor Deployment......Page 285 The Gender Division of Labor on the Seringal......Page 286 Decentralized Production and the Rural Economy......Page 287 The Opportunity Costs of Labor in Rural Areas......Page 288 Mini and Domestic Nut Production......Page 289 The Social Implications of Rural Decentralization and Differentiation......Page 290 The Decentralized Model and its Future......Page 291 The Urban Social Impact......Page 292 The Cost of Labor......Page 294 Conclusion......Page 295 References......Page 296 Material Process and Industrial Architecture: Innovation on The Cuban Sugar Frontier, 1818–1857......Page 300 Introduction......Page 301 Sugar Making as Material Process......Page 304 The Model Sugar Plantation, 1750–1815......Page 306 Cuba: Technological Innovation and the Sugar Frontier......Page 312 Conclusion......Page 318 References......Page 319 World-Systems in the Biogeosphere: Three Thousand Years of Urbanization, Empire Formation and Climate Change......Page 324 Introduction......Page 325 Spatially Bounding World-Systems......Page 327 World-System Cycles: Rise-and-Fall and Pulsations......Page 332 Synchronization of Empires, Cities and Demographic Waves......Page 335 The Moran Effect in Population Ecology......Page 339 A Comprehensive Model of the Causes of Inter-Regional Synchrony......Page 340 Notes......Page 341 References......Page 343 Coffee, Revolution, and Democracy in Central America......Page 346 Introduction......Page 347 Theories of Democracy: Moore and the Transition School......Page 348 The Moore Model and Central America......Page 351 Democracy through Socialist Revolution: The Case of El Salvador......Page 352 The Absent Bourgeois Revolution in Costa Rica......Page 355 Bourgeois Revolutionaries in a Socialist Revolution: The Case of Nicaragua......Page 356 Conclusions: Revolution and Democracy......Page 358 References......Page 361 Peasants, Planters, and the Predatory State: Export Diversification in the Dominican Republic, 1970–2000......Page 366 Introduction......Page 367 The Social and Ecological Roots of Export Diversification......Page 369 Comparative Regional Performance......Page 373 Discussion......Page 378 Notes......Page 380 References......Page 381 Selling the River: Gendered Experiences of Resource Extraction and Development in Lesotho......Page 386 Introduction......Page 387 Lesotho......Page 388 Lesotho Highlands Water Project......Page 390 Development in Lesotho......Page 391 Large Dams as Development......Page 392 Dams and Development......Page 394 Gender and Development......Page 395 Research Methods......Page 396 Gendered Experiences of Resource Extraction and Development......Page 397 Compensation and Value......Page 398 Reorganization of Resources......Page 399 Nutritional Costs......Page 401 Increased Reliance on Cash......Page 402 Loss of Pastoral Lands......Page 403 Conclusion......Page 404 Notes......Page 405 References......Page 406 Cover 1 Nature, Raw Materials, and Political Economy 4 Contents 6 List of Contributors 10 Editorial Advisory Board 12 Nature, Raw Materials, and Political Economy: An Introduction 14 Introduction 14 The Political Economy of Nature and the Concept of Rent 15 Commodity-Based Analysis and Linkage Theory 21 The Contributions of this volume to the Political Economy of Nature and Raw Materials 26 Future Directions for Research 30 References 32 Matter, Space, Time, and Technology: How Local Process Drives Global Systems 36 Introduction 36 Matter, Space, and the Logic of Production 38 Matter, Space, Technology, and Trade: Building a Model of Globalization 39 How Modern Social Scientific Analysis Neglects Space and Nature 44 How Earlier Analyses of Local Materio-Spatial Configurations can Enhance Contemporary Analyses of Globalization 49 Innis's Materio-Spatial Explanations of Canada's Economic History 52 Conclusion: Raw Materials, Economic Ascent, and Underdevelopment in the Production of Globalization 55 Notes 56 References 56 Environmental Sociology's Theoretical and Empirical Paradoxes 58 Introduction 58 The ‘‘Political Sociologization’’ of Sociology and Environmental Sociology 61 The Paradoxes of Early American Environmental Sociology 62 Theoretical and Empirical Paradoxes and the Future Agenda for Environmental Sociology 66 Concluding Remarks 73 Notes 74 Acknowledgments 75 References 75 For a Sociology of ’Socionature’: Ontology and the Commodity-Based Approach 78 Introduction 79 Advantages of Ant for the Sociology of Socionature 81 The Transformation of Sociology's Object of Inquiry 83 Asymmetrical Interrelation of Nature and Society 84 ’Socionature’ and the Co-construction of Nature and Society 85 Addressing Challenges to a Sociology of Socionature: Bunker's Commodity-Based Approach and Conjoint Constitution 88 The Agency of Nature 89 Intentionality and Humanism 92 Linking the ’Local’ and the ’Global’ in Theory 94 Periodization of Socionatural Change 96 Conclusion 97 Notes 98 References 101 Keeping Time: Temporal Hierarchies in Socio-Ecological Systems 106 Introduction 106 Social Time, Human Behavior, and Environmental Outcomes 107 Temporal Grains and Temporal Fallacies 110 Time, Uncertainty, and the Burden of Proof 111 Hierarchies of Social Time 113 Hierarchies of Ecological Time 114 Socio-Ecological Hierarchies and Deforestation 117 Conclusion 121 Notes 122 Acknowledgements 123 References 123 Cycles of Accumulation, Crisis, Materials, and Space: Can Different Theories of Change be Reconciled? 126 Introduction: Hegemony and Accumulation 126 Arrighi's Cycles of Accumulation 128 Bunker's Materio-Spatial Model of Ascent 133 Return to Crisis Theory 141 Hegemony and Local Change 145 Conclusion 148 Notes 148 References 149 Starting at the Beginning: Extractive Economies as the Unexamined Origins of Global Commodity Chains 154 Introduction 154 Global Economic Restructuring and Commodity Chains 157 Bringing in Bunker: Extraction and Transport of Raw Materials 162 Conclusion 168 References 168 Sunk Costs, Resource Extractive Industries, and Development Outcomes 172 Introduction 173 The Nature and Causes of Sunk Costs 175 What are Sunk Costs? 175 What are the Causes of Sunk Costs? 176 Physical Characteristics of Investment 176 Investment Specificity and Remoteness 177 Transaction Costs 178 The Investment Package and Same Boat Effects 179 Extractive Industries and Sunk Costs 179 The Stages of Extractive Activity 180 Investments in Extractive Industries: Specific, Remote and Lumpy 180 Sunk Investments, Industry Organization, and Development Outcomes 182 Sunk Costs and Strategic Behavior in Extractive Industries 183 Sunk Costs, Uncertainty, and Investment in Extractive Industries 187 Sunk Costs and the Structural Evolution of the Economy 189 Sunk Costs and Path Dependency in Extractive Industries 190 Sunk Costs and Dutch Disease Effects in Extractive Economies 191 Policy and Research Implications for Extractive Industries with Sunk Costs 194 Notes 196 Acknowledgement 197 References 197 Japan's Economic Ascent and its Extraction of Wealth from its Raw Materials Peripheries 200 Introduction 201 New Historical Materialism and Generative Sectors 203 Steel and Midas in Japan 205 Ships, Shipbuilding, and The Midas 210 Creating and Extracting Wealth from Japan's Raw Materials Peripheries 213 Conclusion 215 References 217 A Perpetual Extractive Frontier? The History of Offshore Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico 222 Introduction 223 The Bunkerian Framework 224 The Physical Aspects of Offshore Petroleum Extraction in the GOM 226 From Wetlands to Open Water 229 The Contradictions of Offshore Expansion in the 1960s 231 The ‘‘Bright Spot’’ Era 233 The Area-Wide Leasing System 235 The Limits and Constraints on Offshore Development in the GOM 236 Notes 239 References 240 Commodity Frontier as Contested Periphery: The Fur Trade in Iroquoia, New York and Canada, 1664–1754 244 Introduction: Fur as Commodity Frontier, Commodity Frontier as Contested Periphery 245 Geopolitics vs. Markets in Colonial New York's Fur Trade, 1664–1754 248 French and Iroquois Expansion, English Restructuring, 1664–1689 250 Core Conflict, Iroquois Defeat, and Beaver Shortage/Glut, 1689–1701 255 French ‘‘Fur Trade Imperialism,’’ English Fur Mercantilism, Iroquois Neutralism, 1701–1730S 257 From Contested Periphery Toward Peripheral People between Hegemonic Rivals, 1730S–1754 260 Notes 262 References 263 Extraction, Gender and Neoliberalism in the Western Amazon 266 Introduction: The Extractive Question and Amazon Development 267 Narratives of Extraction, Development and Environment in Amazonia 269 Extraction and Stagnation: Revanchist Drag or Sustainable Development? 269 The Labor Question in Extraction 270 The Gendered Iconography of Extraction 274 Invisibility and Women 274 From Demonization to Deliverance: The New Narrative of Extraction 276 From Modernization to Neoliberal Development 279 The Castanha Projects: Trouble in Paradise #1: The Factory 280 Trouble in Paradise #2: Decentralized Production 282 Brazil Nuts And Women in Development 285 Structure of Income and Labor Deployment 285 The Gender Division of Labor on the Seringal 286 Decentralized Production and the Rural Economy 287 The Opportunity Costs of Labor in Rural Areas 288 Mini and Domestic Nut Production 289 The Social Implications of Rural Decentralization and Differentiation 290 The Decentralized Model and its Future 291 The Urban Social Impact 292 The Cost of Labor 294 Costs and Accountability 295 Conclusion 295 Notes 296 References 296 Material Process and Industrial Architecture: Innovation on The Cuban Sugar Frontier, 1818–1857 300 Introduction 301 Sugar Making as Material Process 304 The Model Sugar Plantation, 1750–1815 306 Cuba: Technological Innovation and the Sugar Frontier 312 Conclusion 318 References 319 World-Systems in the Biogeosphere: Three Thousand Years of Urbanization, Empire Formation and Climate Change 324 Introduction 325 Spatially Bounding World-Systems 327 World-System Cycles: Rise-and-Fall and Pulsations 332 Synchronization of Empires, Cities and Demographic Waves 335 The Moran Effect in Population Ecology 339 Modeling Climate Change Effects on Population 340 A Comprehensive Model of the Causes of Inter-Regional Synchrony 340 Notes 341 References 343 Coffee, Revolution, and Democracy in Central America 346 Introduction 347 Theories of Democracy: Moore and the Transition School 348 The Moore Model and Central America 351 Democracy through Socialist Revolution: The Case of El Salvador 352 The Absent Bourgeois Revolution in Costa Rica 355 Bourgeois Revolutionaries in a Socialist Revolution: The Case of Nicaragua 356 The Limits of the Moore Model in Central America 358 Conclusions: Revolution and Democracy 358 References 361 Peasants, Planters, and the Predatory State: Export Diversification in the Dominican Republic, 1970–2000 366 Introduction 367 The Social and Ecological Roots of Export Diversification 369 Comparative Regional Performance 373 Discussion 378 Notes 380 Acknowledgements 381 References 381 Selling the River: Gendered Experiences of Resource Extraction and Development in Lesotho 386 Introduction 387 Lesotho 388 Lesotho Highlands Water Project 390 Development in Lesotho 391 Large Dams as Development 392 Dams and Development 394 Gender and Development 395 Research Methods 396 Gendered Experiences of Resource Extraction and Development 397 Compensation and Value 398 Reorganization of Resources 399 Nutritional Costs 401 Allocation of Labor 402 Increased Reliance on Cash 402 Loss of Pastoral Lands 403 Conclusion 404 Notes 405 References 406 "The papers in this volume push the study of the multifaceted nature-society relationship and the socioeconomic consequences of human dependence on nature forward in a variety of areas. In the first section, "Theoretical Foundations", the five chapters lay out theoretical models for examining the nature society relationship. The chapters examine the roles of material process, space, and time in shaping social processes of economic ascent and long term hegemonic change, as well as the role of the analysis of raw materials in environmental sociology."--Jacket