"Environmentality" in the neoliberal city: Attitudes, governance and social justice

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss how Arun Agrawal's notion of environmentality might be used to think about the changing environmental beliefs and behaviors among India's middle classes. Agrawal's arguments concern the impacts that devolved local institutions for forest management have had on environmental practices and consciousness. Through an appreciation and critique of Agrawal's work, I question whether similar shifts towards plural, decentralized and participatory regulation in urban contexts might also foster the environmental subjectivities that Agrawal sees as part of the emergence of new political subjects positively engaged with the environment. Using Delhi's bhagidari scheme as an example, I suggest that we should be skeptical about the likelihood that diverse classes will identify shared environmental interests; or that emerging environmental concerns amongst the middle classes are necessarily ecologically effective or socially progressive. Nonetheless, as Agrawal reminds us, within any social group we can expect a spectrum of environmental subjectivities based on more than simple interests and identities. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009.