1st Edition

Privileged Goods Commoditization and Its Impact on Environment and Society

By Jack P. Manno Copyright 2000
    280 Pages
    by CRC Press

    280 Pages
    by CRC Press

    What are the obstacles in the way of effectively solving the environmental crises of our time? What can we do to overcome them? These may be two of the most important questions heading into the 21st century. Organized human societies have the ability to completely change the world. While we have excelled at building, destroying and rebuilding, we have not succeeded at conserving, preserving, and sustaining.
    Priviledged Goods: Commoditization and Its Impact on Environment and Society suggests that our propensity toward environmental destruction - a tragic flaw of the modern economy - can be understood as a result of hidden economic forces. These forces drive social and economic development towards increasing mobilization of energy and material beyond what is actually needed to achieve general prosperity and meet basic human needs. The author explains the complex concept of commoditization using examples from key sectors of society.
    Interdisciplinary in scope, Privileged Goods: Commoditization and Its Impact on Environment and Society will appeal to a wide variety of environmental professionals. It explains the key concepts, discusses the history of public policy, analyzes the "appropriate technology" movement of the 70s and compares it to the sustainable development movement of today.

    Introduction
    The Privileged Qualities of Commodities
    The Process of Commoditization
    Examples of How Commoditization Works
    The Attributes of Commoditization
    Conclusion
    Evolution, Systems, and Commoditization
    Introduction
    Commoditization and Evolutionary Theory
    The Natural Selection of Commodities
    Commoditization and Systems
    Conclusion
    Commoditization and Distortion of Development
    Introduction
    Unfair Competition and Comparisons
    Industrial or High Input Agriculture VS Low Input Agriculture
    Health Care and Health Services
    Environmental Pollution Control and the 4Rs
    Transportation
    Science and Academia
    Electricity Sector (Box)
    Conclusion
    Systematic Oppression
    Introduction
    Linking Oppression and Commoditization
    How to Build a Community
    Conquest, Money, and Commoditization
    Commoditization and the Oppression of Indigenous People
    The Legacy of Colonialism in the Modern Global Economy
    Commoditization and the Oppression of Women
    Commoditization and Class Oppression
    The Underdevelopment of Imagination
    Conclusion
    The Institutional Development of the Commoditized Economy
    Introduction
    European Foundations
    Pre-industrial Commercial Institutions
    The Rise of Industrialism and the Modern Economy
    The American Experience
    Ecology and Commoditization
    Sustainable Development and the Challenge of Ecology
    Ecological Principles and Economic Implications
    Conclusion
    Toward a Coordinated Decommoditization Strategy
    Introduction
    The Policy Wedges
    The Role of Participatory Democracy
    The Powers of Government
    Steps in a Decommoditization Strategy
    Decommoditization Effect on Government
    Credit Policies
    Building a Movement

    Biography

    Manno, Jack P.