IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v105y2014icp11-18.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ecological economics, Marxism, and technological progress: Some explorations of the conceptual foundations of theories of ecologically unequal exchange

Author

Listed:
  • Hornborg, Alf

Abstract

Almost regardless of ideological persuasion, the seemingly self-evident concept of “technological progress” inherited from early industrialism is resorted to as an article of faith serving to dispel the specter of truncated growth. The increasingly acknowledged threats of peak oil and global warming are thus generally countered with visions of a future civilization based on solar power. I discuss this technological scenario as a utopia that raises serious doubts about mainstream understandings of what “technology” really is. Technological utopianism raises difficult but fundamental analytical questions about the relation between thermodynamics and theories of economic value. While Marxism and some ecological economics share the ambition of grounding notions of economic value in physical parameters, notions of economic value and physical processes should be kept analytically distinct.

Suggested Citation

  • Hornborg, Alf, 2014. "Ecological economics, Marxism, and technological progress: Some explorations of the conceptual foundations of theories of ecologically unequal exchange," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 11-18.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:105:y:2014:i:c:p:11-18
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.05.015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800914001669
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.05.015?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keen, Steve, 1993. "Use-Value, Exchange Value, and the Demise of Marx's Labor Theory of Value," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 107-121, April.
    2. Hornborg, Alf, 1998. "Towards an ecological theory of unequal exchange: articulating world system theory and ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 127-136, April.
    3. Hornborg, Alf, 2006. "Footprints in the cotton fields: The Industrial Revolution as time-space appropriation and environmental load displacement," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 74-81, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Althouse, Jeffrey & Cahen-Fourot, Louison & Carballa-Smichowski, Bruno & Durand, Cédric & Knauss, Steven, 2023. "Ecologically unequal exchange and uneven development patterns along global value chains," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    2. Zhang, Haoran & Li, Ruixiong & Cai, Xingrui & Zheng, Chaoyue & Liu, Laibao & Liu, Maodian & Zhang, Qianru & Lin, Huiming & Chen, Long & Wang, Xuejun, 2022. "Do electricity flows hamper regional economic–environmental equity?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    3. Dorninger, Christian & Hornborg, Alf & Abson, David J. & von Wehrden, Henrik & Schaffartzik, Anke & Giljum, Stefan & Engler, John-Oliver & Feller, Robert L. & Hubacek, Klaus & Wieland, Hanspeter, 2021. "Global patterns of ecologically unequal exchange: Implications for sustainability in the 21st century," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    4. Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven, 2021. "Beyond the Stereotype: Restating the Relevance of the Dependency Research Programme," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(1), pages 76-112, January.
    5. Franklin Obeng‐Odoom, 2022. "Editor’s Introduction: Retheorizing Ecological Imperialism," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 81(3), pages 417-441, May.
    6. Svartzman, Romain & Dron, Dominique & Espagne, Etienne, 2019. "From ecological macroeconomics to a theory of endogenous money for a finite planet," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 108-120.
    7. Vela-Almeida, Diana & Brooks, Grace & Kosoy, Nicolas, 2015. "Setting the limits to extraction: A biophysical approach to mining activities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 189-196.
    8. Rivera-Basques, Luisa & Duarte, Rosa & Sánchez-Chóliz, Julio, 2021. "Unequal ecological exchange in the era of global value chains: The case of Latin America," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    9. Alban Pellegris, 2023. "Energy as a limiting factor of economic growth: the profit rate channel," Working Papers hal-04120296, HAL.
    10. Kuchler, Magdalena, 2014. "Sweet dreams (are made of cellulose): Sociotechnical imaginaries of second-generation bioenergy in the global debate," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 431-437.
    11. Robert Miehe & Matthias Finkbeiner & Alexander Sauer & Thomas Bauernhansl, 2022. "A System Thinking Normative Approach towards Integrating the Environment into Value-Added Accounting—Paving the Way from Carbon to Environmental Neutrality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-20, October.
    12. Falconí, Fander & Ramos-Martin, Jesus & Cango, Pedro, 2017. "Caloric unequal exchange in Latin America and the Caribbean," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 140-149.
    13. Peng, Shuijun & Zhang, Wencheng & Sun, Chuanwang, 2016. "‘Environmental load displacement’ from the North to the South: A consumption-based perspective with a focus on China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 147-158.
    14. Wang, Pengfei & Li, Hongbo & Huang, Zhenbin, 2023. "The inter-provincial trade inequality in China: An assessment of the impact of changes in built-up land and carbon storage," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    15. Andrea Ricci, 2016. "Unequal Exchange in International Trade:A General Model," Working Papers 1605, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2016.
    16. Yang Yu & Jianfei Lu & Yuxin Pan & Xiangqian Zhao & Dingchao Chen, 2021. "Research and Practice on Filling Technology of Fully Mechanized Coal Mining Face through Trend Abandoned Roadway," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-14, September.
    17. Kolinjivadi, Vijay, 2019. "Avoiding dualisms in ecological economics: Towards a dialectically-informed understanding of co-produced socionatures," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 32-41.
    18. Heikkurinen, Pasi & Ruuska, Toni & Wilén, Kristoffer & Ulvila, Marko, 2019. "The Anthropocene exit: Reconciling discursive tensions on the new geological epoch," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.
    19. Lowe, Benjamin H. & Genovese, Andrea, 2022. "What theories of value (could) underpin our circular futures?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    20. Jesús Ramos-Martín & Fander Falconí & Pedro Cango, 2017. "The Concept of Caloric Unequal Exchange and Its Relevance for Food System Analysis: The Ecuador Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-15, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gingrich, Simone, 2011. "Foreign trade and early industrialisation in the Habsburg Monarchy and the United Kingdom -- Two extremes in comparison," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1280-1288, May.
    2. Dorninger, Christian & Hornborg, Alf & Abson, David J. & von Wehrden, Henrik & Schaffartzik, Anke & Giljum, Stefan & Engler, John-Oliver & Feller, Robert L. & Hubacek, Klaus & Wieland, Hanspeter, 2021. "Global patterns of ecologically unequal exchange: Implications for sustainability in the 21st century," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    3. Goddard, Jessica J. & Kallis, Giorgos & Norgaard, Richard B., 2019. "Keeping multiple antennae up: Coevolutionary foundations for methodological pluralism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Steven A. Mejia, 2023. "Global inequities in the prevalence of undernourishment," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 104(3), pages 329-344, May.
    5. Max Ajl, 2021. "A People’s Green New Deal: Obstacles and Prospects," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 10(2), pages 371-390, August.
    6. Benjamin Leard, 2011. "Joan Martinez-Alier and Ingo Ropke (eds.): Recent developments in ecological economics (2 vols.)," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 161-178, July.
    7. Kosoy, Nicolás & Corbera, Esteve, 2010. "Payments for ecosystem services as commodity fetishism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1228-1236, April.
    8. Cavalieri, Duccio, 2015. "Structural interdependence in monetary economics: theoretical assessment and policy implications," MPRA Paper 65526, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Demaria, Federico, 2010. "Shipbreaking at Alang-Sosiya (India): An ecological distribution conflict," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 250-260, December.
    10. White, Thomas J., 2007. "Sharing resources: The global distribution of the Ecological Footprint," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 402-410, December.
    11. Dimitrios Theodoridis & Paul Warde & Astrid Kander, 2016. "Trade and overcoming land constraints in the British Industrial Revolution: the role of coal and cotton revisited," Working Papers 16027, Economic History Society.
    12. Matthew Sanderson & R. Frey, 2015. "Structural impediments to sustainable groundwater management in the High Plains Aquifer of western Kansas," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(3), pages 401-417, September.
    13. LaRota-Aguilera, María José & Delgadillo-Vargas, Olga Lucía & Tello, Enric, 2022. "Sociometabolic research in Latin America: A review on advances and knowledge gaps in agroecological trends and rural perspectives," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    14. Keen, Steve, 1993. "The Misinterpretation of Marx's Theory of Value," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(2), pages 282-300, October.
    15. Roger Fouquet & Ralph Hippe, 2022. "Twin Transitions of Decarbonisation and Digitalisation: A Historical Perspective on Energy and Information in European Economies," Working Papers 08-22, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC).
    16. Li, Y.L. & Chen, B. & Chen, G.Q., 2020. "Carbon network embodied in international trade: Global structural evolution and its policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    17. Hekmatpour, Peyman & Leslie, Carrie McLachlin, 2022. "Ecologically unequal exchange and disparate death rates attributable to air pollution: A comparative study of 169 countries from 1991 to 2017," OSF Preprints racms, Center for Open Science.
    18. O'Hara, Phillip Anthony, 2009. "Political economy of climate change, ecological destruction and uneven development," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 223-234, December.
    19. Andrew K. Jorgenson, 2016. "Environment, Development, and Ecologically Unequal Exchange," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-15, March.
    20. Perez-Rincon, Mario Alejandro, 2006. "Colombian international trade from a physical perspective: Towards an ecological "Prebisch thesis"," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 519-529, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:105:y:2014:i:c:p:11-18. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.