Understanding Socio-metabolic Inequalities Using Consumption Data from Germany

The Earth's population of seven billion consume varying amounts of planetary resources with varying impacts on the environment. We combine the analytical tools offered by the socio-ecological metabolism and class theory and contribute to a novel social stratification theory to identify the diff...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCapitalism, nature, socialism Vol. 34; no. 4; pp. 97 - 118
Main Authors Schuster, Antonia, Otto, Ilona M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 02.10.2023
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Age differences
Behavior change
Capitalism
Capitalist societies
carbon emissions
Class differences
class theory
Decision making
Differentiation
Emissions
Energy consumption
Environmental impact
Gender differences
Greenhouse effect
Greenhouse gases
Inequalities
Inequality
Metabolism
Modern society
Natural resources
planetary boundaries
Regional differences
Regional variations
Resources
Social classes
Social inequality
social metabolism
Social stratification
Germany
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Summary:The Earth's population of seven billion consume varying amounts of planetary resources with varying impacts on the environment. We combine the analytical tools offered by the socio-ecological metabolism and class theory and contribute to a novel social stratification theory to identify the differences in individual resource and energy use. This approach is applied to German society, we use per capita greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) as a proxy for resource and energy use and investigate socio-metabolic characteristics of individuals from an economic, social and cultural perspective. The results show large disparities and inequalities in emission patterns in the German society. For example, the GHG in the lowest and highest emission groups can differ by a magnitude of ten. Income, education, age, gender and regional differences (Eastern vs. Western Germany) result in distinct emission profiles. We question the focus on individual behavioral changes and consumption choices to reduce carbon emissions instead of structural changes through political decisions. We argue that emission differences are directly linked to the effects of inequalities and class differences in capitalist societies. Our research results show that natural resource and energy consumption are important for explaining social differentiation in modern societies.
ISSN:1045-5752
1548-3290
DOI:10.1080/10455752.2022.2140066