Towards a theory of environment and sustainability

​Although much of my work focuses on specific topics and issues I also work on environment and sustainability at a more theoretical level. In the 1990s and 2000s this interest led to a series of articles on ecological modernisation. Today I am less enthusiastic about this framework, which tends to overstate progress and the merits of capitalism and downplay power, conflict and injustice. Particularly in the context of the social and ecological costs of climate change and biodiversity loss I think we need more critical analytical frameworks. With this in mind I am currently working on a novel approach which builds on scholarship around new imperialisms to explain how global political-economic processes and environment/sustainability are linked.

Murphy, J. (2001) Ecological modernisation: the environment and the transformation of society, OCEES Research Paper, No. 20, Oxford Centre for the Environment, Ethics and Society, Mansfield College, University of Oxford.

Murphy, J. and Gouldson, A. (2000) Environmental policy and industrial innovation: integrating environment and economy through ecological modernisation, Geoforum, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 33-44.

Murphy, J. (2000) Ecological modernisation, Geoforum, Vol. 31, No 3. pp. 1-8.

Gouldson, A. and Murphy, J. (1997) Ecological modernisation: restructuring industrial economies, The Political Quarterly, Vol. 68, No. 5, pp. 74-86.