Routledge Treadmill of Production: Injustice and Unsustainability in the Global Economy (Advancing the Sociological Imagination)

Schnaiberg's concept of the treadmill of production is arguably the most visible and enduring theory to emerge in three decades of environmental sociology. Elaborated and tested, it has been found to be an accurate predictor of political-economic changes in the global economy. In the global South, it has figures prominently in the work of structural environmental analysts and has been used by many political-economic movements. Building new extensions and applications of the treadmill theory, this new book shows how and why northern analysts and governments have failed to protect our environment and secure our future. Using an empirically based political-economic perspective, the authors outline the causes of environmental degradation, the limits of environmental protection policies, and the failures of institutional decision-makers to protect human well-being. Review “Few works of social science prove enduring, much less prophetic. Allan Schnaiberg’s environmental sociology, first introduced in the 1980s, is here refashioned for the challenges of twenty-first-century globalization. Schnaiberg and his coauthors reach across the generations with profound insight, demonstrated prescience, and a new vision of social justice.” ―John Walton, Distinguished Research Professor, University of California “The book represents an essential point of departure for understanding and addressing the challenges of controlling global environmental change in the twenty-first-century.” ―Thomas K. Rudel, Rutgers University “Lays out a promising research agenda on the new politics of the environment for critical social scientists.” ―Maria Kousis, University of Crete About the Author Kenneth A. Gould is professor and chair of the Department of Sociology at Brooklyn College and professor of sociology at the Cuny graduate center. Dr. David N. Pellow is professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, San Diego. His teaching and research focus on environmental justice issues in communities of color in the U.S.. and globally. His books include: Resisting global toxics: transnational movements for environmental justice; The silicon valley of dreams: environmental injustice, immigrant workers, and the high-tech global economy (with Lisa Sun-Hee Park); and Garbage wars: the struggle for environmental justice in Chicago. Allan Schnaiberg is professor emeritus of sociology at northwestern university, and a former chair of that department. His books include: The environment: from surplus to scarcity (1980), Distributional conflicts in environmental-resource policy (1986); co-editor with Nicholas Watts & Klaus Zimmermann, Environment and society: the enduring conflict (1994, 2000); with Ken Gould, Local environmental struggles: citizen activism in the treadmill of production (1996); with Ken Gould & Adam Weinberg, Urban recycling and the search for sustainable community development (2000).