The luxury of nature: the environmental consequences of super-rich lives

Davison, Aidan

doi:10.4337/9781783474042.00025

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…There has been considerable attention to the share of income accrued by the richest 1% of the income distribution, where increases in inequality have been particularly concentrated (eg Atkinson, 2015;Jenkins, 2016). Other studies have examined the consequences of wide economic inequalities for individuals, societies and for the environment (Stiglitz, 2013;Wilkinson and Pickett, 2009;Davison, 2016), although the extent of causal links is contested (eg Rowlingson, 2011;Salverda et al, 2014). This body of research is multidimensional in terms of the outcomes considered, but the metric of inequality remains firmly economic resources (A1).…”

Section: Metrics Thresholds and Distributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequality, Advantage and the Capability Approach

Hick

Burchardt

2017

Journal of Human Development and Capabilities

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Inequality has acquired a newfound prominence in academic and political debate. While scholars working with the capability approach (CA) have succeeded in influencing the conceptualisation and measurement of poverty, which is increasingly understood in multidimensional terms, recent scholarship on inequality focusses overwhelmingly on economic forms of inequality, and especially on inequalities in income and wealth. In this paper we outline how the conceptual framework of the CA (focusing on ends rather than means, multidimensionality, and recognising the value of freedoms as well as attained functionings) has the potential to enrich the study of distributional inequality through offering a rationale for why inequality matters, exploring the association between different forms of inequality, and providing an analysis of power. But applying the CA in the context of advantage exacerbates some existing challenges to the approach (defining a capability list, and the non-observability of capabilities) and brings some fresh ones (especially insensitivity at the top of the distribution). We recommend a stronger and clearer distinction between concepts and measures. Capability inequality is a more appropriate and potentially revealing conceptual apparatus, but economic resources are likely to remain a crucial metric for understanding distributional inequality for the forseeable future.

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Section: Metrics Thresholds and Distributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequality, Advantage and the Capability Approach

Hick

Burchardt

2017

Journal of Human Development and Capabilities

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“…For example, streams of sociological research show that income inequality is associated with higher production-based and consumption-based carbon emissions in the United States and other Global North nations (Jorgenson et al 2017; Knight, Schor, and Jorgenson 2017). One reason for this association is that the lifestyles of the rich are highly resource intensive (Davison 2016) as the wealthy compete for status through overconsumption (Ehrhardt-Martinez et al 2015; Frank 2020; Schor 1998). Furthermore, larger segments of the population consume mass-produced, nondurable, and highly polluting goods (Claudio 2007; Datta 2014; Wilkinson and Pickett 2010) to emulate the lifestyles of the wealthy (Schor 1998) on smaller budgets.…”

Section: Ghg Emissions Income Inequality and Human Well-being In The United Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Unsustainable State: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Inequality, and Human Well-Being in the United States, 1913 to 2017

Kelly

Thombs

Jorgenson

2021

Socius

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A central premise of development strategies is that nations use natural resources, such as fossil fuels, to raise population living standards and enhance well-being. However, research shows that the relationship among human well-being, resource use, and the associated emissions is complex and context specific. To better understand if natural resource use plays a historic role in generating human well-being in the United States, the authors conduct a time-series analysis of greenhouse gas emissions and average life expectancy from 1913 to 2017. The results show that increases in greenhouse gas emissions per capita have an instantaneous, negative effect on life expectancy. The authors also find evidence that income inequality has a long-run negative effect on life expectancy. Additional analyses provide mixed results regarding whether and how the effects of emissions on life expectancy are conditional on income inequality. These findings contradict the assumption that reductions in emissions necessitate trade-offs in human well-being in high-income contexts.

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“…Below, we employ examples of how excessive consumption by the wealthy increases their ecological footprint, impacts ecological stability (Davison 2016), and contributes to behaviors stimulated by capitalism both ideologically (consumption-based stimulus that can be addressed, for example, by green-cultural criminology (Brisman and South 2013, 2014)) and structurally. That kind of empirical evidence contributes to political economic green criminological and green-cultural criminological explanations of green crimes and injustice (Lynch and Stretesky 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the Ecological Impact of the Wealthy: Excessive Consumption, Ecological Disorganization, Green Crime, and Justice

et al. 2019

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Ecological disorganization stemming from conspicuous consumption practices is understudied in the social sciences. In this analysis, we study conspicuous consumption and its implications for environmental sociology, ecological footprint analysis, and green criminology. We examine the issue of conspicuous consumption through the study of items that increase the ecological footprint considerably, that is, through the consumption of “luxury commodities.” Specifically, we draw attention to assessing aspects of ecological footprints of super yachts, super homes, luxury vehicles, and private jets. Taken together, the construction and use of these items in the United States alone is likely to create a CO2 footprint that exceeds those from entire nations. These results are not necessarily surprising but suggest that excessive consumption practices of the wealthy may need to be reinterpreted as criminal when they disrupt the normal regeneration and reproduction of ecosystems by generating excessive ecological disorganization.

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The luxury of nature: the environmental consequences of super-rich lives

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Inequality, Advantage and the Capability Approach

Inequality, Advantage and the Capability Approach

The Unsustainable State: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Inequality, and Human Well-Being in the United States, 1913 to 2017

Measuring the Ecological Impact of the Wealthy: Excessive Consumption, Ecological Disorganization, Green Crime, and Justice

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