Suchergebnisse

In 2008, the province of British Columbia was an early mover in North America introducing a broad-based and escalating carbon tax. This article explores the interface between the human and non-human environment that resulted in this policy outcome. I use Actor-Network Theory, with its emphasis on the co-construction of human and non-humans, to describe, inform, and problematize the way humans relate to the non-human environment. Drawing on a post-humanist Latourian perspective, I examine the interlocking relationship between "chemical reactions and political reactions." I explore five examples of human and non-human mediation in the development of British Columbia's carbon tax: environmental pricing, the beetle epidemic, political economy, emissions accounting, and emotion. Applying Actor-Network Theory to the case of British Columbia's carbon tax disrupts traditional anthropocentric approaches to policy development, highlighting the role of the non-human environment in shaping, rather than simply being shaped by, policy.

This special issue of Canadian Journal of Sociology on 'Contentious Mobilities' showcases Canadian scholarship that investigates mobilities in the context of unequal power relations. Mobilities become contentious when they confront the systematic exclusion of others, advance unconventional mobile practices and defy or destabilize existing power relations. Increasingly, mobilities are contentious in relation to rapidly changing economies, societies and environments. This special issue stages an overdue encounter between the mobilities paradigm and research on sociopolitical contention. Simultaneously, this special issue addresses an empirical gap, featuring Canada as a prolific and influential site for leading-edge research. Five key themes emerge amongst the diverse papers in this issue: life and death, employment-related mobility, intersectionality/in(visibility), governance, and automobility. Further, we identify five potential topics for Canadian mobilities, including climate change, disaster, technology and travel, the good city and methods.