Power to the people: Understanding shifts in community power
Description
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, contentious battles have raged throughout the nation which pit grassroots environmental activists against industry representatives, government officials and other development advocates. In some, activists have successfully stopped the siting of nuclear waste facilities or the dumping of toxic waste. In other struggles, industry representatives have won the right to build facilities or maintain landfills. These struggles raise the questions of who controls economic development decision making within a community and how power is shifted from one group to another. This dissertation will examine these questions by analyzing two cases in which Shintech, Inc., a large chemical manufacturer, attempted to site a polyvinyl chloride plant in two small communities in Louisiana. The first siting attempt was unsuccessful and the second was achieved. These cases are ideal to examine the topic of community power because they were very contentious, high profile cases. Additionally, the first case is considered a landmark environmental justice struggle that was followed closely by activists, environmental regulators, government officials, developers, and industry officials throughout the country. Research for this comparative case study includes participant observation, in-depth interviews, a review of news articles, organizational and government documents, and a content analysis of permit hearing minutes and news articles. I develop a theoretical analysis which reconstructs theory from four sub-fields of sociology: urban political economy, political sociology, social movement theory, and environmental sociology. My theoretical analysis proposes that a shift of power depends on the interplay of structural factors and factors that are under the control of the actors. Structural factors include community economic history, site selection and characteristics of the surrounding neighborhoods, and cultural and political opportunities. Factors under the control of the actors include the manner in which they frame their grievances or issues and the strategies they employ. These factors are analyzed in terms of both the protest group and the traditional power holders. Additionally, I employ a power analysis using the three dimensional view of power proposed by Lukes (1974) and Gaventa (1980) to understand how the causal sequence of events involving these factors leads to power shifts within a community