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energy. This is entirely sensible. How we get there, though, is a question of politics. And where there is a Growth, question of politics, markets are just around the corner. Possible climate solutions include pro-market climate change, “green growth,” Keynesian-influenced “Green New Deal” programs, reviving mid-twentieth-century cen- tralized planning, and “degrowth” movements, to and the critique name a few. Each of these has different sets of interests at stake. Each, moreover, is guided by underlying so- cial, political, and economic theories. In this regard, of neoclassical economic sociology can help contribute to this discus- sion which, if I didn’t scare you enough in the first reason paragraph, is urgent business. Judging by a few leading outlets and organiza- tions, however, economic sociology has so far not been attentive to climate change in my opinion. Aside New possibilities for from a recent “state-of-the-art” series focused on en- ergy transitions (see Wood et al. 2020), Socio-Econom- economic sociology ic Review has not published an article about climate change that I know of. Politics & Society, by my count, has only two. The Society for the Advancement of So- Matthew Soener cio-Economics (SASE) does not have an environmen- tal or climate network. For a much more in-depth analysis of climate change in economic sociology, see the interesting contribution by Ian Gray and Stepha- nie Barral in this issue. he outlook on climate change is bleak. Warming To be clear, this is not a rebuke of these journals, effects from greenhouse gases mean rising sea SASE, or economic sociology as a whole. Emerging is- levels, increased storms, droughts, wildfires, and sues take time to be incorporated. It took a decade or Tother stresses to the Earth system. This means risks to our two for environmental sociology to emerge from the food supply, further species loss, and threats to coastal margins in American sociology, for example (Scott populations. Indirectly it means sociopolitical pressures and Johnson 2017). I have no doubt that a lot of good in an already fragile context. Society’s most vulnerable are work on climate change will be coming out in eco- already primary targets. And, if Covid-19 isn’t grim enough, the combination of surface-level Matthew Soener is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of temperature increases combined with hu- Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Matthew holds a Ph.D. from the Ohio State man-animal contact from deforestation and University and recently completed a 2-year postdoctoral position at Sciences Po industrial farming will spawn more “zoonotic” (MaxPo/OSC). His research interests include financialization, social inequality, infectious diseases. and the political economy of climate change. Matthew’s research has appeared One upshot of all this bad news is that in Socio-Economic Review, New Political Economy, and Economy and Society. This public opinion is catching up with these re- piece was partly based on a paper in Sociological Forum and a chapter in the alities. There has been a substantial increase recent book Accumulating Capital Today (Routledge). [email protected] in the last decade in the number of Ameri- cans either “concerned” or “alarmed” about climate nomic sociology soon (this newsletter series clearly change (Leiserowitz et al. 2020). European Union citi- speaks to that fact). zens are almost all in agreement that climate change is This is good news because economic sociology a serious problem, according to Eurobarometer. has a valuable perspective to contribute to climate As sociologists, however, we know that beliefs do change – one that contrasts with how the issue is typi- not map onto action. Part of that owes to complex cul- cally understood. For example, when human contri- tural processes outlined in Kari Norgaard’s Living in butions to climate change are brought up in the policy Denial (2011). We would rather not think about it, arena, NGOs, and in academia, it is typically framed even, as Norgaard expertly shows, for those of us who in the language of neoclassical economics. Jessica are concerned. Plus, translating beliefs into action re- Dempsey studied these kinds of spaces and observed quires that we all agree on what to do. Those same sur- that many well-meaning people proposed solutions to veys show strong support for investment in renewable ecological problems based entirely on market logics economic sociology_the european electronic newsletter Volume 22 · Number 3 · July 2021 Growth, climate change, and the critique of neoclassical reason by Matthew Soener 11 like individual “utility maximizing” behavior and ro-level (e.g., transacting across global supply chains) econometric modeling (2016). What these discussions actors are more rational (2008). are missing are things from the economic sociology Putting aside the specifics of Bair’s paper, her ar- toolkit: institutionalized business interests, the con- gument reveals something important about economic struction of markets, social inequalities, technocracy, sociology: the field pays a lot of attention to micro-lev- morality, and culture. Stated differently, economic so- el behavior. Scaling that up can be difficult. However, I ciology for me is ultimately a critique of neoclassical suggest that we can get traction on macro-level prob- economic thinking. Since a lot of climate change dis- lems if we focus less on individual market action and cussion is based in this framework, there is ample more on critiquing neoclassical concepts such as room for economic sociologists to push back against growth. Growth is central not only to neoclassical but this narrative. to classical economic thought as well. Thomas Mal- My own interest in this area centers on the ques- thus and Adam Smith held that growth delivers the tion of economic growth. The Intergovernmental Pan- greatest happiness with the least harm to society. This el on Climate Change (IPCC) – the most authoritative kind of utilitarian logic shapes climate discussion. body of climate scientists – clearly states in their last During the Kyoto Protocol negotiations in 1997, for assessment report that growth is one of the most im- example, parties weighed the advantages and disad- portant drivers of greenhouse gas emissions (IPCC vantages of growth and development with emissions. 2014). The reason is simple: a continuously growing In other words, the same kind of cost/benefit rational- economy requires continual consumption of resources ity ascribed to homo economicus is embedded in eco- like fossil fuels. This vicious cycle leads to higher emis- nomic concepts. sions. In camera obscura, this conclusion is equally This can be a useful starting point for economic clear from the economic slowdown due to Covid-19. sociologists who want to interrogate growth. We are Researchers from the Global Carbon Budget found well-positioned not only to examine the cultural con- that, compared with 2019 levels, global CO2 emissions struction of this mindset historically but also to ask fell 7 percent in 2020 (Le Quéré et al. 2021). sociological questions regarding the workings of Given this relationship, or “coupling,” between growth. For example, how does ideology justify growth and climate change, as well as the centrality of growth? What social processes drive it? Who benefits growth in neoclassical economics, I use this essay to and who loses? elaborate on how growth drives climate change, how Asking these kinds of questions in the context of neoclassical ideas are embedded within this, and how climate change can clarify mechanisms and make the economic sociology can intervene in this discussion. I problem less overwhelming. To understand why, con- also discuss my own research into these questions sider the neoclassical alternative. In this theoretical which tries to unpack growth by looking at its social tradition, everyone is implicated in growth more or drivers in the capital accumulation process (Soener less equally. Just as champions of liberal universalism 2019; Soener 2021). This gives us a clearer sense of the see political citizens equally capable of exercising po- core (or, if you like, socially “embedded”) drivers of litical action, market fundamentalists see economic emissions. It also gives us a clearer and socially just citizens equally capable of exercising market action. mitigation roadmap. I end this essay by discussing a With proper legal and political frameworks in place, few possibilities for a growth/climate change research individuals are free to participate in market exchang- agenda through three key theorists: Karl Marx, Max es. Absent from this neoclassical framework are forms Weber, and Karl Polanyi. of social power such as ownership and social processes One reason growth has not received adequate like production and reproduction. What is left are at- attention within economic sociology might have omized individuals whose aggregate behavior, through something to do with the field’s intellectual heritage. spending, working, saving, investing, and also just ex- The “New Economic Sociology” of the 1980s and isting (i.e., demography), shapes outcomes like growth. 1990s was a response to individualized economic the- Thus, if the growth rate for a country increases, drag- ories about market action. Hence, the perspective ging emissions up with it, it is an aggregate reflection leans more on the micro-level and around markets (as of the many individual choices made within that eco- opposed to capitalism, which, as we shall see, is my nomic unit. starting point). Growth, on the other hand, is a very Interestingly, there is an alignment between this macroscopic topic. Does this put growth and other depiction and what many environmentalists call the macro topics out of reach for economic sociologists? “Anthropocene.” The Anthropocene is both a pro- For some, yes. Jennifer Bair, for example, argues that posed geological periodization for our human-domi- micro-level market interactions might resemble the nated epoch and a social theory term for humanities’ world economic sociologists describe, but at the mac- collective effect on the planet. The exact timing of this economic sociology_the european electronic newsletter Volume 22 · Number 3 · July 2021 Growth, climate change, and the critique of neoclassical reason by Matthew Soener 12 era is hotly debated, but recent trends could not be savings. Second, emissions have fallen in the rich clearer. Global consumption of everything from fertil- world – where they are much higher – in large part izer to meat since 1945 has risen to unimaginable because these countries offshore production, which heights. Humans, especially humans in the Global offshores their emissions. In this sense, global trade North, are pushing planetary boundaries because we obscures the reality of emissions. all consume so much stuff. This explanation shares a Environmental sociologists have given us a crit- neoclassical economic vision of human nature – a Pro- ical perspective on growth. To the decoupling debate methean spirit of insatiable appetites (a metaphor, it they add sociological emphases that might otherwise should be said, that owes more to the writings of Mal- be missing. For example, Jevons Paradox goes a step thus than classical Greeks who placed a premium on beyond just efficiency gains – a central concern for moderation). So, while we can point the finger at mainstream economics – to consider the role of pro- growth, in neoclassical thinking, that finger is point- duction and consumption. When doing so, we see that ing at us. We choose to take long-distance flights to efficiency savings are only half of the picture. Equally give a 15-minute presentation at an academic confer- important is a focus on power. Against a neoclassical ence (hey, I’m including myself in this too). The degree framework of equalized buyers and sellers in a market, to which we want to contribute or alleviate climate those environmental sociologists who document un- change therefore is one of personal preferences or pol- equal trade effects can do so because they theorize the icies that can constrain our Promethean impulses. economy as a highly unequal field. Transnational cor- This is why someone like Milton Friedman favored porations set terms over supply chains, business carbon taxes. It would shift market incentives and groups can lobby for trade terms, and core states have therefore outcomes. neo-imperial and historical colonial advantages over These ideas feed into empirical debates about subordinate states. These imbalances shape natural re- the connection between growth and emissions. The source flows and emissions levels. terms of this debate are not on whether growth drives We can therefore begin to see how economic so- emissions – there is little doubt it does – but whether ciologists can contribute to environmental and climate growth can be decoupled from emissions. That is, can issues. Like environmental sociologists, we can take we enjoy the benefits of economic growth while mini- up questions that challenge neoclassical convention. mizing harmful emissions? Some economists and so- My own training in this area taught me that economic ciologists build on modernization theory to propose life is shaped by significant power imbalances, and I this elegant outcome. Emissions rise with develop- wanted to apply this insight to the kind of literature ment but eventually fall as citizens and politicians – I’ve discussed on growth. Indeed, this kind of insight thanks to the market – invest in energy-efficient infra- could go beyond existing ideas about growth which do structure, price carbon, and shift consumption prefer- not consider the social inequalities generated within ences to “greener” products. Leading institutions like it. For example, there is a large literature in environ- the World Bank and the OECD are key endorsers of mental sociology on the “treadmill of production” these “green growth” strategies. This overlaps with re- (e.g., Gould, Pellow and Schnaiberg 2015). The term lated environmental investment strategies champi- reflects the ceaseless motion of growth rates and, with oned in many corporate annual reports, by asset man- it, rates of resource consumption and waste. As the agement firms like BlackRock, and even oil/gas majors term suggests, “production” is the key force, particu- who misleadingly fashion themselves as partners in larly private sector production. But this is obscured in the renewable energy transition (see for example Ken- this literature because it relies on measures of gross ner and Heede Forthcoming). domestic product (GDP). GDP collapses production While some countries have made progress in and consumption together. It also collapses house- decoupling emissions from growth through renewable holds, business, and the public sector. Of course, GDP energy investment, for now, the rosy green growth is a useful variable. We have to consider our collective outcome is more myth than empirical reality. Environ- output. But GDP won’t tell us about relative social mental sociologists give at least two reasons to help power and distribution. explain why. First, the phenomena of “Jevons Para- Social scientists are beginning to see more clear- dox,” named after the nineteenth-century economist ly how social power and distribution are connected to William Stanley Jevons. He observed that gains in effi- emissions. For example, Lucas Chancel finds that in ciency lower prices and therefore increase consump- the United States “the poorest 50 percent emit about tion. For example, cars today are far more efficient thirteen metric tons of CO2e [CO2 equivalent] per year than they were a generation ago. But they are cheaper and the wealthiest 1 percent emit at least 150 metric to produce, resulting in more production. Emissions tons” (2020, p. 96). The rise of a “fossil economy” was from the higher number of cars offset their efficiency also institutionalized around unequal relations. An- economic sociology_the european electronic newsletter Volume 22 · Number 3 · July 2021 Growth, climate change, and the critique of neoclassical reason by Matthew Soener 13 dreas Malm brilliantly reexamines the Industrial Rev- ploitation and the rate of profit (2019). I did this both olution in his book Fossil Capital (2016). He shows at the industry and national level with a sample of that the transition from waterpower to coal-powered OECD states. While my study could not directly cap- steam during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth ture important aspects like offshoring or assess long- centuries was not due to efficiency concerns. Rather, term changes, I nonetheless found a significant statis- coal gave English factory owners key advantages over tical relationship in certain industries and the total workers, such as geographic mobility and extending economy overall. My findings contribute to the litera- the working day. Indeed, there is a long historical arch ture on economic growth and emissions. I point to to inequality and ecological resources. The quest for more specific processes within growth: profitability profit led to colonial plundering for resources and the and exploitation. Seen in this way, the problem of cli- violent land-clearing strategies needed to make lucra- mate change is not just an economy based on endless tive slave plantations in the New World. Hence, fossil growth, but unequal social relations inscribed within fuel and other natural resource consumption is impli- the growth paradigm. cated in the formation not only of capitalist growth My findings have important implications for but of a racialized world order through imperialism. thinking about mitigation strategies. For example, More recently, this connection is visible from drilling down more closely into the social drivers of the “neoliberal” restructuring that followed the de- growth can add important nuance in debates about cline in profitability during the 1970s. Downward growth and climate change. As I’ve discussed else- pressure on wages from deunionization has led to in- where (2021), the emphasis on growth has led to two equality which is itself associated with higher emis- divergent climate strategies: “green growth” and “de- sions (conversely, union density has been shown to growth.” The intense debate surrounding both can be reduce emissions). Overaccumulation, another re- helpful for situating the “big picture” in the long term. sponse to this problem, has required more material But for an immediate mitigation plan, I don’t think it resources. Perhaps most importantly, offshoring pro- is helpful to pigeonhole the debate into either green duction to reduce labor costs has exacerbated emis- growth – which opponents accuse of preserving the sions from long-distance trade and flexible produc- status quo – or degrowth – which opponents accuse of tion’s high rate of resource use and consumption. being unrealistic and strategically vague. In the short Since inequality is a relevant factor in emissions term, we should instead focus on inequalities in the and because growth indicators obscure this fact, I workplace, points of trade, and sites of resource ex- wanted to study emissions predictors by unpacking traction. Alleviating social and ecological inequalities growth. The most theoretically sound way to do this is at the source is, in my opinion, a more concrete and to focus on capital accumulation. In the Marxist tradi- socially just way of addressing the growth economy as tion, accumulation is both a social relation and the compared with these two alternatives, i.e., either hop- central driver of growth. This is based on unequal ing “green” markets will take care of it down the road ownership of property as capitalists exploit labor to or taking risks through forcing gross output to fall. generate profit. Competitive pressure, moreover, com- These findings also shift the perspective away pels capitalists to generate increasingly higher rates of from an agglomeration of individual market prefer- profit over time in order to reinvest these proceeds. ences and incentives to power imbalances. Pace neo- This is why capitalist growth is inherently unequal and classical economics, the distribution of emissions is also why it requires continual resource inputs. Indeed, not evenly spread out from consumption. Not at all. as the preceding historical examples show, the profit Those who own and control the world’s resources have rate also depends on natural resource exploitation. far more influence in the way they are distributed. By Manufactured and agricultural goods as well as ser- contrast, unorganized individual households and vice technology are built from raw and chemical in- workers have little or no say over the production pro- puts alike. A competitive and expansionary economy cess. means more land use changes (itself a major emission In fact, against all of these perspectives on driver and, let’s also never forget, a driver of zoonotic growth, this is the central issue. It is because these in- infections like coronavirus). These outputs also need equalities are a product of the same competitive mar- energy throughput to set it all in motion, including ev- ket logic that drives an expansionary economy in the erything from cloud servers to container ships. Since name of profit. Moreover, the inequalities produced in fossil fuels constitute 85 percent of energy consump- the market economy reflect unequal vulnerability to tion worldwide, we can be sure that this accumulation climate change. Mitigation strategies should be orient- cycle is generating greenhouse gases throughout. ed around these inequalities. Carbon emissions and To put this idea to a simple empirical test, I esti- unequal economic growth are two sides of the same mated greenhouse gas emissions by the rate of ex- coin. economic sociology_the european electronic newsletter Volume 22 · Number 3 · July 2021 Growth, climate change, and the critique of neoclassical reason by Matthew Soener 14

Solutions should therefore marry decarboniza- many brilliant insights on modernity’s ecological im- tion with decommodification. That is, social policies pact (Foster and Holleman 2012). This can be fertile that foster renewable energy, public transportation, ground for economic sociologists who want to engage sustainable agriculture, and “green” infrastructure and with his wide-ranging thought. I would draw special technology should also decommodify natural resourc- attention to what he alludes to in that line from the es. Proposals like the Green New Deal aim for these Protestant Ethic. ends while simultaneously improving wages, employ- Growth depends not only on labor and natural ment, and protecting the often racialized “frontline” resources but on a rationalized culture. Technical ex- communities most vulnerable from environmental pertise is crucial here, whether it comes from econo- hazards and climate change. Going further, decom- mists, business schools, central banks, or other com- modifying labor would more decisively address eco- monly studied areas within economic sociology. This nomic inequalities. Collective and democratic forms has climate implications. For example, Tim Mitchell’s of ownership may not be an environmental panacea, to Carbon Democracy – though more Foucauldian than be sure, but they provide far more accountability over Weberian – traces how fossil fuel politics shaped the resource use than we have now. It would also mean construction of “the economy” through national ac- more consideration of who benefits from energy use, counts data (2011). When oil became cheaply abun- including the health and environment of a community. dant after World War II, it became ideologically possi- To conclude, I want to briefly discuss some ways ble for economists, politicians, and planners to imag- economic sociology can contribute to this discussion ine an economy based on endless growth. Historical through the lens of three core theorists. questions like these can be important for further re- search, and so can more contemporary topics. There Karl Marx: Marx provides a helpful analysis for situat- has been a lot of technical work among scientists and ing social conflicts with growth. These ideas can be “ecological economists” on sustainability and growth. used to further refine the competing interests and di- Economic sociology can surely contextualize this kind visions underneath growth and emissions. My analysis of research and hopefully address its shortcomings. on profitability and exploitation only scratches the surface. Karl Polanyi: Polanyi’s insights into market societies We have to also understand the myriad forms of and their contradictions can be extended to climate segmentation and divisions among workers and other change. His ideas about the “double movement,” for constituencies. Capitalism produces social conflicts example, have been used by some scholars to theorize over resources and energy both between and within social responses to ecological changes. Additionally, classes (e.g., fossil fuel versus renewable energy work- Polanyi offers critical insight into the many market ers; smallholder versus industrialized farmers). More- “fixes” cropping up in recent years, such as carbon over, social and geographic divisions are the bases of markets. Of note, Gareth Dale has written extensively exploitive profit-making. Racial/ethnic and gendered on Polanyi and excavated numerous “green” connec- segmentation in the workplace and outsourcing un- tions. For example, Dale argues that Polanyi prefig- paid work to women in the home are integral to capi- ured ideas on degrowth. His critique of economic talist profitability. So too are underdeveloped areas in thinking can be directly extended to contemporary the Global South and peripheralized areas – over- green growth ideas. For instance, Dale has connected whelmingly adjacent to poor and nonwhite residents Polanyi’s ambivalence about the New Deal to proposed – all over the world where waste and pollution are de- Green New Deal plans today (2020). posited. Incorporating these dynamics can fill out the Finally, I would also underscore Polanyi’s con- way accumulation and emissions work and bolster a tention that markets commodify labor, money, and climate justice narrative. land. Land use changes are a very important driver of climate change. Modern-day enclosures entail defor- Max Weber: Weber ended The Protestant Ethic and the estation, industrial farming, and intensify resource ex- Spirit of Capitalism by saying a rationalized geist would traction. Polanyi would probably not have been sur- not end until “the last ton of fossilized coal is burnt.” prised at the kind of cultural degradation and social While Weber may not have appreciated just how envi- alienation experienced by the recently dispossessed ronmentally prophetic this phrase was in 1905, he had when land is commodified in the twenty-first century.

economic sociology_the european electronic newsletter Volume 22 · Number 3 · July 2021 Growth, climate change, and the critique of neoclassical reason by Matthew Soener 15

References

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economic sociology_the european electronic newsletter Volume 22 · Number 3 · July 2021