An argument that environmental challenges will only resonate with citizens of affluent postindustrial countries if sustainability concerns emerge from everyday practices. 
Far-reaching efforts to address environmental issues rarely seem to resonate with citizens of the United States or other wealthy postindustrial societies. In Engaging the Everyday, John Meyer considers this impediment to action on environmental problems―which he terms “the resonance dilemma”―and argues that an environmental agenda that emerges from everyday concerns would resonate more deeply with ordinary citizens. Meyer explores the contours of this alternative, theorizing both obstacles and opportunities and then considering it in terms of three everyday areas of material practice: land use, transportation by automobile, and home dwelling.
Adopting the stance of an “inside critic” (neither detached theorist nor narrow policy advocate), and taking an approach that he calls “contested materiality,” Meyer draws on a variety of theoretical perspectives to construct a framework for understanding material practices. He reimagines each of the three material practices in terms of a political idea: for land, property; for automobiles, freedom; and for homes, citizenship. His innovative analysis offers a grounded basis for reshaping our talk about political concepts and values.

Engaging the Everyday: Environmental Social Criticism and the Resonance Dilemma

Politics & Social Sciences

Meyer, John M.

Social Sciences

Mit Pr

Political Nature: Environmentalism and the Interpretation of Western Thought

Concern over environmental problems is prompting us to reexamine established thinking about society and politics. The challenge is to find a way for the public's concern for the environment to become more integral to social, economic, and political decision making. Two interpretations have dominated Western portrayals of the nature-politics relationship, what John Meyer calls the dualist and the derivative. The dualist account holds that politics--and human culture in general--is completely separate from nature. The derivative account views Western political thought as derived from conceptions of nature, whether Aristotelian teleology, the clocklike mechanism of early modern science, or Darwinian selection. Meyer examines the nature-politics relationship in the writings of two of its most pivotal theorists, Aristotle and Thomas Hobbes, and of contemporary environmentalist thinkers. He concludes that we must overcome the limitations of both the dualist and the derivative interpretations if we are to understand the relationship between nature and politics.Human thought and action, says Meyer, should be considered neither superior nor subservient to the nonhuman natural world, but interdependent with it. In the final chapter, he shows how struggles over toxic waste dumps in poor neighborhoods, land use in the American West, and rainforest protection in the Amazon illustrate this relationship and point toward an environmental politics that recognizes the experience of place as central.

Science & Math

Earth Sciences

American Indians and U.S. Politics: A Companion Reader

The relationship between American Indians and the U.S. political system is both vitally important and unique. Yet American Indians―as individuals and as tribal nations―typically receive scant attention in introductory courses on American government and politics. This is the only reader on Native America and U.S. politics designed to be incorporated into introductory government courses. It will help students to obtain a clearer understanding of such contemporary issues as Indian fishing rights and gaming casinos and to see topics central to the course―the Constitution, the structure of federalism, citizenship, and civil liberties―from the perspective of groups that have often sought a protected place outside the U.S. polity rather than inclusion within.
Enabling students to compare the American Indian experience with the ideas presented in other course materials, the readings in this book are keyed to the topics most commonly found in the course syllabi. Selected for their insight and accessibility as well as diversity of viewpoints and topics, the essays provide a unique insight into the character of the American political system from the perspective of American Indians, teaching the reader much about both the tribes and the character of politics and government in the U.S. generally.

History

MEYER, JOHN

Americas

Praeger

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Meyer, John M.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Meyer, John M.