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From Citizens to Consumers: The Countercultural Roots of Green Consumerism

Wight, Philip A.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1368030088

Abstract Details

2013, Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, History (Arts and Sciences).
When did American environmentalism shift from a focus on collective political action to an obsession with personal lifestyles? This thesis investigates three distinct bodies of environmental thought spanning from the 1950s to the mid-1970s to answer this question. These three eco-political philosophies are liberal, eco-socialist, and countercultural environmentalism. The heart of this thesis is the debate among key environmental thinkers--John Kenneth Galbraith, Stewart Brand, and Barry Commoner--concerning the role of individual consumers and the importance of public policy. This debate can be understood as supply-side (producers) versus demand-side (consumers) environmentalism. This thesis argues America's modern paradigm of libertarian, demand-side environmentalism and green consumerism stems from specific values, ideas, lifestyles, and worldviews representative of American counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. In championing individual consumer choice, contemporary environmentalism has largely rejected liberal and eco-socialist prescriptions of collective political action and social democratic governance.
Kevin Mattson, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Katherine Jellison, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Paul Milazzo, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
184 p.
Alternative Energy; American Studies; Climate Change; Conservation; Ecology; Economic History; Environmental Economics; Environmental Justice; Environmental Studies; History
Green consumerism; Eco-socialism; libertarian environmentalism; free market environmentalism; consumer activism; American environmentalism; history of environmental public policy; Barry Commoner; John Kenneth Galbraith; Stewart Brand

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Wight, P. A. (2013). From Citizens to Consumers: The Countercultural Roots of Green Consumerism [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1368030088

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wight, Philip. From Citizens to Consumers: The Countercultural Roots of Green Consumerism . 2013. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1368030088.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wight, Philip. "From Citizens to Consumers: The Countercultural Roots of Green Consumerism ." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1368030088

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1368030088
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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.