Trade union perceptions of the labour - nature relationship

IF 2.4 Q3 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Environmental Sociology Pub Date : 2021-03-25 DOI:10.1080/23251042.2021.1897766

N. Räthzel

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper is based on research with environmentally engaged trade unionists in India. It follows their trajectories into the trade union and explores their environmental engagements. A short presentation of the history of Indian trade unionism, aims to understand its ‘multi-unionism’. Analysing three exemplary life-histories of unionists, their motivations to engage in unions and their relationships to workers and to poor people, three models of perceiving the labour-nature relationship are offered: the container model, nature as a mediator of survival, and the nature-labour alliance. I show that the way in which unionists perceive the labour-nature relationship is shaped by their practices and influences their environmental policies. Furthermore, trade unions who seek alliances with other social movements on equal terms, develop a more comprehensive perception of the labour-nature relationship and thereby the development of more wide-ranging environmental policies. I conclude suggesting that the conditions enabling a more comprehensive perception of the labour-nature relationship could become possible if workers along the value chain could collaborate to learn from each other about their working conditions and the natures they transform.

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工会对劳资关系的看法

摘要本文基于对印度环保工会成员的研究。它跟随他们进入工会的轨迹，探索他们的环保活动。简要介绍印度工会主义的历史，旨在了解其“多工会主义”。通过分析工会主义者的三个典型生活史、他们加入工会的动机以及他们与工人和穷人的关系，提出了三种感知劳动-自然关系的模型：容器模型、作为生存媒介的自然和自然-劳动联盟。我表明，工会主义者看待劳动与自然关系的方式是由他们的实践决定的，并影响着他们的环境政策。此外，寻求在平等条件下与其他社会运动结盟的工会对劳资关系有了更全面的认识，从而制定了更广泛的环境政策。最后，我建议，如果价值链上的工人能够合作，相互学习他们的工作条件和他们转变的性质，那么就有可能创造更全面地理解劳动与自然关系的条件。

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来源期刊

Environmental Sociology ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES-

CiteScore

4.60

自引率

12.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Environmental Sociology is dedicated to applying and advancing the sociological imagination in relation to a wide variety of environmental challenges, controversies and issues, at every level from the global to local, from ‘world culture’ to diverse local perspectives. As an international, peer-reviewed scholarly journal, Environmental Sociology aims to stretch the conceptual and theoretical boundaries of both environmental and mainstream sociology, to highlight the relevance of sociological research for environmental policy and management, to disseminate the results of sociological research, and to engage in productive dialogue and debate with other disciplines in the social, natural and ecological sciences. Contributions may utilize a variety of theoretical orientations including, but not restricted to: critical theory, cultural sociology, ecofeminism, ecological modernization, environmental justice, organizational sociology, political ecology, political economy, post-colonial studies, risk theory, social psychology, science and technology studies, globalization, world-systems analysis, and so on. Cross- and transdisciplinary contributions are welcome where they demonstrate a novel attempt to understand social-ecological relationships in a manner that engages with the core concerns of sociology in social relationships, institutions, practices and processes. All methodological approaches in the environmental social sciences – qualitative, quantitative, integrative, spatial, policy analysis, etc. – are welcomed. Environmental Sociology welcomes high-quality submissions from scholars around the world.