Environmental crises and the metabolic rift in world-historical perspective

• This article proposes a new theoretical framework to study the dialectic of capital and nature over the longue durée of world capitalism. The author proposes that today’s global ecological crisis has its roots in the transition to capitalism during the long sixteenth century. The emergence of capitalism marked not only a decisive shift in the arenas of politics, economy, and society, but a fundamental reorganization of world ecology, characterized by a “metabolic rift,” a progressively deepening rupture in the nutrient cycling between the country and the city. Building upon the historical political economy of Marx, Foster, Arrighi, and Wallerstein, the author proposes a new research agenda organized around the concept of systemic cycles of agro-ecological transformation. This agenda aims at discerning the ways in which capitalism’s relationship to nature developed discontinuously over time as recurrent ecological crises have formed a decisive moment of world capitalist crisis, forcing successive waves of restructuring over long historical time.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora -- Etnologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities -- Ethnology (hsv//eng)

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Lantbruksvetenskap, skogsbruk och fiske -- Jordbruksvetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries -- Agricultural Science (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Teknikhistoria (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- History of Technology (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Ekonomisk historia (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economic History (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Historia (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- History (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Övrig annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Nationalekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economics (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Veterinärmedicin -- Klinisk vetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Veterinary Science -- Clinical Science (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

world-systems analysis

world history

environmental history

political ecology

economic history

Immanuel Wallerstein

Giovanni Arrighi

metabolic rift

environmental crisis

sustainability

agriculture

Marxism

transition from feudalism to capitalism

Agricultural economics

Jordbruksekonomi

Human ecology

Humanekologi

Agricultural history

Agrarhistoria

History of technology and industry

Teknik- och industrihistoria

Economic history

Ekonomisk historia

History

Historia

Technology and social change

Teknik och social förändring

Economics

Nationalekonomi

Human geography, economic geography

Kulturgeografi, ekonomisk geografi

Sociology

Sociologi

Veterinary epidemiology

Veterinärmedicinsk epidemiologi

Economic History

ekonomisk historia

Environmental Science

miljövetenskap

nationalekonomi

Economics

historia

History

Social and Economic Geography

kulturgeografi

sociologi

Sociology

History Of Sciences and Ideas

idé- och lärdomshistoria

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)