Abstract
We present a review of theoretical and methodological advances in the social scientific literature on environmental inequality/racism and argue for new directions in research efforts that pay more attention to (1) the historical forces driving environmental justice conflicts; (2) the complex role of stakeholders in these struggles; (3) the role of social inequality, particularly the trade-offs between environmental protection and social equity; and (4) the impact of social movement activity on the state of environmental protection. Drawing on a case study of an environmental justice conflict in the United States, we find that environmental inequality impacts many actors with often contradictory and cross-cutting allegiances. These struggles therefore become a moving drama—a process—rather than a cross-sectional outcome. We conclude with an analysis of environmental inequality on a global scale and argue that the role of transnational capital remains largely untheorized in the literature. We suggest new models for explaining environmental inequality's causes and consequences.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Anderton, D., Anderson, A. B., Oakes, J. M., and Fraser, M. (1994). Environmental equity: The demographics of dumping. Demography 31: 229–248.
Asch, P., and Seneca, J. L. (1978). Some evidence on the distribution of air quality. Land Econ. 54: 278–297.
Been, V. (1993). Locally undesirable land uses in minority neighborhoods. Yale Law Rev. 103: 1383.
Bryant, B., and Mohai, P. (eds.). (1992). Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards: A Time for Discourse, Westview Press, Boulder.
Bullard, R. (2000). Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Quality, Westview Press, Boulder.
Bullard, R., and Johnson, G. (eds.). (1997). Just Transportation: Dismantling Race and Class Barriers to Mobility, New Society Publishers, Philadelphia.
Coursey, D. (1994). Environmental racism in the city of Chicago. Paper presented at the Irving B. Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, Oct. 1994.
Critharis, M. (1990). Third World nations are down in the dumps: The exportation of hazardous waste. Brooklyn J. Int. Law 16: 311.
Foster, S. (2000). Community-based environmental protection and justice: A critical assessment. Paper presented at the Environmental Justice and Natural Resources Conference, Tattered Cover Bookstore, Denver, Colorado, April 2000.
Freeman, A. M., III. (1972). The distribution of environmental quality. In Kneese, A. V., and Bower, B. T. (eds.), Environmental Quality Analysis: Theory and Method in the Social Sciences, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, pp. 243–278.
Hersch, R. (1995). Race and industrial hazards: An historical geography of the Pittsburgh region, 1900–1990, Discussion Paper 95-18, Resources for the Future, Washington, DC.
Hurley, A. (1995). Environmental Inequalities: Class, Race and Industrial Pollution in Gary, Indiana, 1945–1980, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.
Institute of Medicine (1999). Toward Environmental Justice: Research, Education, and Health Policy Needs, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Lavelle, M., and Coyle, M. (1992). Unequal protection: The racial divide in environmental law. Natl. Law J. 15: S1-S12.
Marbury, H. (1995). Hazardous waste exportation: The global manifestation of environmental racism. Vanderbilt J. Transnatl. Law 28: 1225–1237.
Moyers, B. (1990). Global Dumping Ground: The International Traffic in Hazardous Waste, Seven Locks Press, Washington.
Porterfield, A., and Weir, D. (1987). The export of U.S. toxic wastes. The Nation 137: 245–325.
Portney, K. (1991). Siting Hazardous Waste Facilities: The NIMBY Syndrome, Auburn House, New York.
Roberts, T., and Toffolon-Weis, M. (2001). Chronicles From the Environmental Justice Front Line, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Robinson, J. (1991). Toil and Toxics, University of California Press, Berkeley.
Rodney, W. (1982). How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Howard University Press, Washington, DC.
Schnaiberg, A. (1975). Social syntheses of the societal-environmental dialectic: The role of distributional impacts. Soc. Sci. Q. June: 5–20.
Silliman, J. (1997). Making the connections:Women's health and environmental justice. Race, Gender &Class 5: 104–129.
Szasz, A., and Meuser, M. (1998). Unintended, inexorable: The production of environmental inequalities in Santa Clara County, California. Am. Behav. Scientist 43: 602–632.
Tiemann, M. (1998). Waste trade and the Basel convention: Background and update, Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, Committee for the National Institute for the Environment, Washington, DC.
United Church of Christ (1987). Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States, United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, New York.
United States General Accounting Office (1983). Siting of Hazardous Waste Landfills and Their Correlation With Racial and Economic Status of Surrounding Communities, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
Weinberg, A. (1998). The environmental justice debate: A commentary on methodological issues and practical concerns. Sociol. Forum 13: 25–32.
Wilson, W. J. (1996). When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor, Vintage Books, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pellow, D.N., Weinberg, A. & Schnaiberg, A. The Environmental Justice Movement: Equitable Allocation of the Costs and Benefits of Environmental Management Outcomes. Social Justice Research 14, 423–439 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014654813111
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014654813111