Toxic Outliers and Sociology Theory: How Empirical Disproportionalities in Environmental Privilege Impact Modern Theory

• In Event: 465 - Regular Session. Looking Upstream: Structural Impediments to Environmental Progress

Abstract

Although a number of prominent scholars have emphasized that social and natural problems are inherently linked, few meaningfully employ a sociological frame to understand either (first) the problems we see in nature or (second) how nature's problems reflect the social forces that connect the inner workings of society's polluter-industrial complex. Sociologists are particularly well-suited to do either of the aforementioned tasks. In this research, I empirically demonstrate that the vast majority of all harm generated by organized industrial producers, is actually generated by a concentrated few, who pollute our commons at rates hundreds (or even thousands) of times more than expected. Further, this small group of privileged users (referred to as "toxic outliers") produce harm without providing compensating societal benefit (jobs, etc.) Herein I show the unwavering stability of this pattern, comparing producers individually and sectorally, while controlling for producer size and productiveness. To my knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to show the generalizability of what has been previously termed the disproportionality perspective. I then use these results to explore the socially structured factors that encourage the maintenance of this status quo. I show where current theoretical perspectives in our discipline could be innovated to reflect the uneven nature of both pollution production and the powerful social forces that exist to the benefit of the modern industrial polluter.

Author

• Mary B. Collins, University of Maryland