2014/01/01 by J. R. Harris · 10 citations
Social Sciences · #Political Economy and Marxism #Capitalism #Environmental crisis #Sustainable society #Production (economics) #Element (criminal law) #Ecological crisis #Sustainable development #Economic system #Economics #Neoclassical economics #Market economy #Political economy #Environmental ethics #Political science #Sustainability #Law #Politics #Ecology
paper · doi:10.1163/15691497-12341288
published in Perspectives on Global Development and Technology 13(1-2), 43-60 (Brill)
openalex publication_date 2014/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract Marxists and radical environmentalists have argued that the never-ending drive for expanded accumulation and production is the fundamental reason that capitalism can never solve the environmental crisis, and in effect can only make the crisis more severe. Promoters of green capitalism also focus on the growth cycle of capitalism, but argue that new environmental technologies can out-compete and be more profitable than the destructive means of production now in use. Both arguments overlook the effects of economic crisis as another element in our confrontation with environmental calamities, and yet, crisis plays an important role in the improbability of capitalism building a sustainable society.