MIDTERM 5

Question 1

Social Constructionism

Answer 1

There is no objective reality outside our categories of perception and interpretation. We can only know things through the ways that we categorise, classify, define, and understand them - and those ways of understanding are the products of culture and society

Question 2

Essentialism

Answer 2

A thing’s characteristics are natural,

inherent, innate, fixed, unchanging

Question 3

Humanism

Answer 3

Fundamental idea that humans are separate and superior from OTH beings.

• Other-than-human beings have less/no moral value

Question 4

Humanist View of Nature

Answer 4

Irrational/non-rational
“Laws of nature”
Mechanistic body
Instinct/passion
INFERIOR

Question 5

Humanist View of Human

Answer 5

Rational I
Autonomy/ “free will” 
Mind/spirit + body 
Civility/self-control 
SUPERIOR

Question 6

Key point: conceptions of “human” & “nature”

Answer 6

= social constructions

Question 7

Claims that animals do feel pain/emotions

Answer 7

• Every part of an animal functions just like in a human
• Neurobiology clearly shows that animal brains function like human brains, eg. same limbic pathways
• Humans and other animals have the same neuro chemicals; antipsychotics and
  antidepressants (Xanax, Prozac, etc.) work the same
• what is the purpose of maternal deprivation studies conducted on thousands of monkeys for over 50 years?!

Question 8

Speciesism

Answer 8

exclusion of certain beings from the realm of moral
concern merely on the basis of species

-assertion that humans are superior to all other life forms;
prejudice in favour of one’s own species

Question 9

Nature’s role in economic processes

Answer 9

Provider of inputs (“natural resources”)

Receiver of outputs (“waste”)

Question 10

Natural Resource

Answer 10

A socially constructed way of viewing OTH
worlds in terms of human wants (incl. profit),
that varies over time, space, and culture.

Question 11

Economic activity involves ______ of resources

Answer 11

commodification

extraction

transformation

trading

Question 12

Rationalism in economics is used to

Answer 12

• Create a discursive separation between humans
  and all other life forms
• Justify human greed and exploitation of nature

Question 13

Assumptions of Rational Choice Theory

Answer 13

• assumes humans are naturally “rational actors”
• sees human nature as intrinsically selfish
• neglects how rational action is culturally defined

Question 14

Rational

Answer 14

Make calculated decisions to maximize self interest,

especially economic self interest

Question 15

By-Catch

Answer 15

accounts for 40%-90% of all catches.

Question 16

Scientists estimate that
the world’s oceans will be
dead by

Answer 16

2050.

Question 17

Elements necessary for commodification (6)

Answer 17

Privatization

Alienability

Individuation

Abstraction

Valuation

Displacement

Question 18

Privatization

Answer 18

Assigning of legal title over a commodity to a

particular actor

Question 19

Alienability

Answer 19

Capacity of a given commodity to be physically and

morally separated from sellers

Question 20

Individuation

Answer 20

Separating a commodity from supporting context

through legal and material boundaries

Question 21

Abstraction

Answer 21

Setting individual things as equivalent based on

classifiable similarities, e.g. “wetlands”

Question 22

Valuation

Answer 22

Monetizing the value of a commodity, making it

exchangeable

Question 23

Displacement

Answer 23

Spatiotemporal separation, obscuring origins and

relations [mystification; commodity fetishism]

Question 24

A resource becomes exploitable when

Answer 24

value reaches certain level

necessary technology
is available

Question 25

Resources created due to:

Answer 25

* Ideology (eg. speciesism) * Technological and scientific knowledge * Economic circumstances

Question 26

New technological and scientific knowledge and how is leads to more resource exploitation

Answer 26

- Improved means of extraction or processing | - New uses for a natural substance

Question 27

How economic circumstances creates idea of "resources"

Answer 27

- Increased demand or decreased supply leads to higher price - Extraction/exploitation becomes “economical” (ie., “rational”)

Question 28

how do resources vary as commodities?

Answer 28

 Location  The physical nature of commodities differs  Transport and storage

Question 29

Communal ownership and access

Answer 29

Individuals have usufruct (use) rights, eg. communal farm land, forests, grazing pastures, water sources

Question 30

State ownership and state exploitation of resources

Answer 30

Benefits shared by all citizens as govt. revenue • More common in early/mid 20th C

Question 31

State ownership and private exploitation

Answer 31

State owns lands and leases out / firms purchase license to exploit. Firm keeps profits after taxes

Question 32

Role of the state in resource extraction

Answer 32

Infrastructure Investment Logistics

Question 33

Changing patterns of ownership

Answer 33

3 Global trends • ↑ private ownership; ↓ communal or open access • ↑ importance of SOEs/GLC's in resource industries (esp. in GS) • Privatization of formerly state controlled industries, eg. coal, water, hydroelectric dams ``` - Land previously used for subsistence now for market production (eg. eucalyptus plantation) ```

Question 34

Two ways of analyzing the worth of natural resources | in the contemporary capitalist system:

Answer 34

1. Commodity price based on supply and demand in the marketplace 2. Assign a monetary value that includes a wider value of the natural environment & cost of disturbing/destroying it

Question 35

Green washing

Answer 35

polluters buy carbon neutral status