The Violence of Materialism in Advanced Industrial Society: An Eco-Sociological Approach

Abstract

The main argument to be developed in this article is that such phenomena as war, vandalism and urban ‘terrorism’ are not isolated events, but reflect the values and beliefe embedded in the deep institutional structure of advanced industrial societies. It will be argued that in such societies, however politically patterned, there is a universal, and virtually unequivocal, acceptance of economic growth and expansion as the prime objective to be pursued. As such economic expansion depends on advances in scientific and technological knowledge the control and manipulation of nature is given full legitimacy. This attitude towards nature is seen as a central feature of the industrial culture as a whole and reflects the dominance of material over other human values. And it is the asymmetry between these value systems which predisposes the industrial culture to violence and instability: in short it gives ideological support to the use of violence in the resolution of problems, whether these be of a political, social or economic nature.

It will be contended that there is a clear need to go beyond the traditional marxist analysis of capitalism in order to show how the institutional structure of advanced industrial societies plays a part both in stimulating and reproducing the ideology of violence notwithstanding considerable differences in the political arrangements in such societies. It follows from this that what is required is a broad theory of industrialization, rather than specifically of capitalism. As Illich argues,

Our present ideologies are useful to clarify the contradictions which appear in a society which relies on the capitalist control of industrial production; they do not, however, provide the necessary framework for analysing the crisis in the industrial mode of production itself.

As the writer has argued elsewhere the formulation of such a theory could be enhanced through the establishment of continuities between the thought of radical humanists such as Illich and that of the critical theory of the Frankfurt School. This article reflects an initial attempt to achieve a synthesis of such ideas. In the concluding paragraphs the article will address itself to a key question – what new modes of thinking, what kinds of institutions, are necessary if the ideology of violence is to be transcended? It will be argued here that the possibility of such transcendence depends on the establishment of a new organizing principle – ‘deep ecology’³ – as a basis for the construction of an alternative social reality. In contrast to the prevailing attitude in advanced industrial society which legitimizes humankind's assumed position of dominance and control over all aspects of nature, ‘deep ecology’ lays stress on oneness and interdependence with humankind no longer at the centre of the stage.

Through the exploration of the concept of ‘deep ecology’ an attempt will be made to develop an ecological perspective in sociological thought. The consistent failure of sociological theorizing to encompass the ecological debate is a serious disciplinary weakness at a time when there is evidence of a mounting ecological crisis of global proportions. Whilst it is accepted that the thesis presented here cannot claim more than tentative status at this stage, the writer's minimum aims will have been achieved if it acts as a catalyst for the further discussion and development of these ideas within the discipline.