Neomarxist approaches to environmental crisis and sustainable development

• Main Author: Jovanović Matija
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociological Scientific Society of Serbia 2015-01-01
• Series: Sociologija
• Subjects: ecological crisis; neomarxism; theory of metabolic rift; second contradiction of capitalism; critical theory
• Online Access: http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0038-0318/2015/0038-03181503421J.pdf

This paper discusses two neomarxist theories of ecological crises - theory of metabolic rift and the second contradiction of capitalism theory. The goal of the paper is to present two critical theories and to confront them so similarities, differences, flaws and contributions of those theories can be identified. In the first part of the paper author classifies different approaches to ecological crisis and sustainable development in order to relate two neomarxist theories to other approaches to the topic. In the second part, author discusses theory of metabolic rift, which is a heuristic analysis of Marx’s original work. In other words, this theory represents a new reading of the classic and tries to integrate it’s new findings about envirnmental side of Marx’s thought into a contemporary marxist theory. Third part of the paper is reserved for the second contradiction of capitalism, a neomarxist theory of economic crisis which can be applied as a theory of ecological crisis. Two theories are then confronted after which similarities and differences between them are pointed out. The author concludes the paper by stressing out the flaws and scientific contributions of the two theories.