Social equity is an important normative construct in public administration. However, its operationalization is vague and it is empirically underutilized. This article combines political economy, social equity, and environmental justice literatures to explore the contentious issue of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas (commonly called “fracking”). Through interviews with local officials, we show that local officials are aware of equity issues, many take action to reduce inequities related to gas drilling, and equity is often at odds with private property rights. Finally, equity issues are more likely to be associated with inequitable distribution of costs and benefits than traditional distributional social equity.
AdamsJ. S. (1963). Towards an understanding of inequality. Journal of Abnormal and Normal Social Psychology, 67, 422-436.
2.
AdamsJ. S. (1965). Inequality in social exchange. In BerkowitzL. (Ed.), Advances in experimental psychology (pp. 267-299). New York, NY: Academic Press.
3.
BittickR. M. (2009). Social equity, property rights, and public administrators: A theoretical linkage. Public Integrity, 11, 121-134.
4.
BryantB. (1995). Introduction. In BryantB. (Ed.), Environmental justice: Issues, policies, and solutions. Washington, DC: Island Press.
5.
ClarkB. (1998). Political economy: A comparative approach (2nd ed.). Westport, CT: Praeger.
6.
CloughE.BellD. (2016). Just fracking: A distributive environmental justice analysis of unconventional gas development in Pennsylvania, USA. Environmental Research Letters, 11, Article 025001. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/2/025001
7.
DenhardtR. B. (2004). Theories of public organizations (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson-Wadsworth.
DeweyJ. (1927). The public and its problems: An essay in political inquiry. Chicago, IL: Gateway Books.
10.
DryzekJ. S. (2000). Deliberative democracy and beyond: Liberals, critics, contestations. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
11.
FiorinoD. J. (2010). Sustainability as a conceptual focus for public administration. Public Administration Review, 70(Suppl. 1), S78-S88.
12.
FredericksonH. G. (2005). The state of social equity in American public administration. National Civic Review, 94, 31-38.
13.
FredericksonH. G. (2010). Social equity and public administration: Origins, developments, and applications. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
14.
FryM.BriggleA.KinkaidJ. (2015). Fracking and environmental (in)justice in a Texas city. Ecological Economics, 117, 97-107.
15.
GetchesD. H.PellowD. N. (2001). Beyond “traditional” environmental justice. In MuntzK. M.BrynerG. C.KenneyD. S. (Eds.), Justice and natural resources: Concepts, strategies, and applications. Washington, DC: Island Press.
16.
GoodenS.MyersS. L.Jr. (2004). Social equity in public affairs education. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 10, 91-97.
KellyG.CooperA.PinkertonE. (2014). Quantifying equity with Messrs. Markov, Lorenz and Gini: Retaining and distributing benefits in natural resource-dependent communities. Journal of Rural and Community Development, 9, 97-117.
19.
LeeJ.LeeJ. (2018). Seeds of distrust: Conflicts over sustainable development in a local fracking policy network in New York State. Public Management Review, 20(1), 108-135.
20.
LindE. A.TylerT. R. (1988). The social psychology of procedural justice. New York, NY: Springer.
21.
McJeonH.EdmondsJ.BauerN.ClarkeL.FisherB.FlanneryB. P.. . . TavoniM. (2014). Limited impact on decadal-scale climate change from increased use of natural gas. Nature, 514, 482-485.
22.
MilesM. B.HubermanA. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
23.
Norman-MajorK. (2013). Balancing the four Es; or can we achieve equity for social equity in public administration?Journal of Public Affairs Education, 17, 233-252.
24.
NozickR. (1974). Anarchy, state, and utopia. New York: Basic Books.
25.
Ogneva-HimmelbergerY.HuangL. (2015). Spatial distribution of unconventional gas wells and human populations in the Marcellus Shale in the United States: Vulnerability analysis. Applied Geography, 60:, 165-174.
26.
PezzulloP. C.SandlerR. (2007). Revisiting the environmental justice challenge to environmentalism. In SandlerR.PezzulloP. C. (Eds.), Environmental justice and environmentalism: The social justice challenge to the environmental movement. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
27.
RaimiD.NewellR. G. (2015). Shale public finance: Local government revenues and costs associated with oil and gas development (National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 21542). Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w21542
28.
RawlsJ. (2001). Justice as fairness: A restatement. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
29.
RosenbloomD. (2005). Taking social equity seriously in MPA education. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 11, 247-252.
30.
SahaD.PatersonR. G. (2008). Local government efforts to promote the “three Es” of sustainable development: Survey in medium to large cities of the United States. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 28, 21-37.
31.
StazykE. C.MoldavanovaA.FredericksonH. G. (2016). Sustainability, intergenerational social equity, and the socially responsible organization. Administration & Society, 48, 655-682.
32.
SvaraJ. H.BrunetJ. R. (2004). Filling in the skeletal pillar: Addressing social equity in introductory courses in public administration. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 10, 99-109.
33.
SvaraJ. H.BrunetJ. R. (2005). Social equity is a pillar of public administration. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 11, 253-258.
34.
WangX.HawkinsC. V.LebredoN.BermanE. (2012). Capacity to sustain sustainability: A study of U.S. cities. Public Administration Review, 72, 841-853.
35.
WisemanP. S. (2013). Urban energy. Fordham Urban Law Journal, 40, 1793-2013.
36.
WooldridgeB.GoodenS. (2009). The epic of social equity: Evolution, essence, and emergence. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 31, 222-234.
