Buen Vivir: an Alternative to the Treadmill of Production in Ecuador?

• In Event: 241 - Regular Session. Environmental Sociology 1

Abstract

The treadmill of production theory is criticized as not offering an easy solution to socio-ecological problems. However, in the original formulation of the theory, Allan Schnaiberg (1980) presented three potential resolutions to the socio-environmental dialectic: economic syntheses, managed scarcity syntheses, and ecological syntheses. The ecological synthesis best approximates what environmental sociologists promote as a “solution” in that it balances environmental well-being with social well-being. Schnaiberg’s analysis offers mechanisms intended to lead toward ecological syntheses, beginning with the scientific establishment of limits to “withdrawals” and “additions” that the environment could sustain. This paper compares three eras of Ecuador’s history, each representing one of the three syntheses with the goal of empirically assessing key factors that contribute to ecological synthesis. In Ecuador, this synthesis is represented by its most recent era, and its ideology of buen vivir (good living). Ecological synthesis is supported by: 1) an ideology that is distinct from global neoliberal ideologies, 2) social movement actors who can institutionalize an alternative ideology in political institutions, 3) political practices that favor state/society over corporate capital gain, and 4) demonstrations that the alternative ideology put into practice benefits society. Nevertheless, in Ecuador, ecological synthesis is incomplete. Despite its own proposals to do otherwise, the state remains reliant on unsustainable petroleum withdrawals. Transition to an economy less dependent on withdrawals (such as through tourism) is not yet a reality. The paper draws upon historical documents, interviews, and field work.

Author

• Tammy L. Lewis, CUNY-Brooklyn College