Paternalism, pollution and protest in a company town

This paper describes the way a local tradition of paternalism and xenophobia shaped the political debate that developed after community-level recognition of a water pollution problem in a rural north Florida mill town. A paternalistic relationship between a large pulp mill and the community circumsc...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political geography 1996, Vol.15 (1), p.5-20
Main Author: Solecki, William D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
America
Bgi / Prodig
Citizen participation
Company towns
CULTURAL PATTERNS
Democratization
ENVIRONMENT
Environmental aspects
Environmental conditions
FLORIDA
Paper industry
Paternalism
Political power
POLLUTION
Protest
Social conflicts
SOCIETY AS A WHOLE
South Atlantic
TRADITION
U.S.A
United States
United States of America
Water pollution
Wood pulp industry
Xenophobia
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper describes the way a local tradition of paternalism and xenophobia shaped the political debate that developed after community-level recognition of a water pollution problem in a rural north Florida mill town. A paternalistic relationship between a large pulp mill and the community circumscribed opportunities for meaningful public dialogue by narrowly framing the options: the firm eased criticism by supplying alternative sources of water; deference by local political and social institutions shifted the focus of public discussion from the causes of pollution to the morality and character of the firm; and a xenophobic culture made it possible to marginalize environmentalists as ‘outsiders’. The argument presented here is that the environmental conflict was mediated through latent social relations of paternalism which were played out simultaneously by the firm, local elites and townspeople and which determined the way the ‘community’ would be defined. These processes are illustrated through a review and analysis of relevant documents, reports and local newspaper articles which appeared during the course of the crisis from spring 1991 through to autumn 1992. The findings indicate that simplistic characterizations of local environmental conflicts are inadequate, and that the persistence and flexibility of historical traditions such as paternalism and xenophobia hold important implications for environmentalism, social movements and democratization.
ISSN:0962-6298
1873-5096
DOI:10.1016/0962-6298(95)00001-1