Power and Space Production: A Bourdieusian Approach to Environmental Law and Inspection in China

Abstract

The most important tool or institution that the Chinese state has used since 2002 to address environmental pollution, relying on its power to force compliance by local polluters and cadres, is environmental inspection. This article proposes a Bourdieusian approach for analyzing environmental inspection by considering the symbolic power of the state and the local effects of inspections at different levels of government, which have seldom been explored in the literature. We use this approach to examine four propositions with a sample comprising ninety-nine inspections in city H. First, inspectors use both the objective and symbolic power of the state in inspections. Second, inspectors at lower levels in the bureaucratic hierarchy have less objective and symbolic power in confronting local cadres and polluters. Third, local environmental protection changes physical space (e.g., landscape), social space (e.g., relations between cadres and polluters), and mental space (e.g., environmental perceptions). Fourth, inspectors with more power produce larger spaces for environmental protection. Through using this approach, we offer insights into how the Chinese state uses inspection to mobilize local societies to address social or governance crises.