UNDERDEVELOPING APPALACHIA: TOWARD AN ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY OF ...

225 Pages·2014·2.25 MB·English

UNDERDEVELOPING APPALACHIA: TOWARD AN ENVIRONMENTAL
SOCIOLOGY OF EXTRACTIVE ECONOMIES

by

WILLIAM RYAN WISHART

A DISSERTATION

Presented to the Department of Sociology
and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

June 2014
DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE

Student: William Ryan Wishart

Title: Underdeveloping Appalachia: Toward an Environmental Sociology of Extractive
Economies

This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Sociology by:

John Bellamy Foster Chairperson
Richard York Core Member
Michael Dreiling Core Member
Joseph Fracchia Institutional Representative

and

Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research and Innovation;
Dean of the Graduate School

Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School.

Degree awarded June 2014

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© 2014 William Ryan Wishart

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DISSERTATION ABSTRACT

William Ryan Wishart

Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Sociology

June 2014

Title: Underdeveloping Appalachia: Toward an Environmental Sociology of Extractive
Economies

This dissertation uses mixed methods to examine the role of the coal industry in
the reproduction of Central Appalachia as an internal periphery within the United States
and the economic, ecological, and human inequalities this entails. It also analyzes the
related political economy and power structure of coal in a national context. Particularly
important for analysis of the region’s underdevelopment are the class relations involved
in unequal ecological exchange and the establishment of successive “modes of
extraction.”
I employ a historical comparative analysis of Appalachia to evaluate Bunker’s
thesis that resource dependent peripheries often become locked into a “mode of
extraction” (with aspects parallel to Marxist concepts of mode of production) triggering
economic and ecological path dependencies leading to underdevelopment. This historical
comparative analysis establishes the background for a closer examination of the political
economy of the modern US coal industry.
After sketching the changes in the structure of monopoly and competition in the
coal industry I employ network analysis of the directorate interlocks of the top twenty
coal firms in the US within the larger energy policy-planning network to examine their
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connections with key institutions of the policy formation network of think tanks and
business groups. My findings show the importance of the capacities of fossil fuel
fractions of the capitalist class in formulating energy policy around issues such as the
2009 climate legislation.
As a contribution to the growing literature applying the concept of metabolism as
link between contemporary and classical theory, I examine the conflict at Coal River
Mountain from the vantage points of ecology, political economy, and human
development in dialectical rotation. Utilizing Marx’s method of successive abstractions,
the mountain is presented as a nexus of metabolic rifts in the human relationship to the
earth’s natural systems and an impediment to genuine human development. Finally, I
conclude with some implications of this analysis for building a critical environmental
sociology of extractive economies.

This dissertation includes previously published materials.

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CURRICULUM VITAE

NAME OF AUTHOR: William Ryan Wishart

GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED:

University of Oregon, Eugene
University of Tennessee, Knoxville

DEGREES AWARDED:

Doctor of Philosophy, Sociology, 2014, University of Oregon
Master of Arts, Sociology, 2007, University of Tennessee
Bachelor of Arts, College Scholars, 2005, University of Tennessee

AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST:

Environment
Political Economy
Theory
Political Sociology
Methods

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Research Assistant, Monthly Review, 2012-2014
Research Associate, Southern Appalachian Field Lab, Institute for a Secure and
Sustainable Environment, University of Tennessee, 2008-2009

GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS:

Graduate School Research Award for Publication, University of Oregon, 2013

Wayne Morse Center For Law and Politics Dissertation Fellow, University of
Oregon, 2012-13

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SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Wishart, Ryan. 2012 “Coal River’s Last Mountain: King Coal’s Après moi le déluge
Reign.” Organization & Environment. 25 (4): 467-482.

Pfleger Robinson, Cassie, Randal Pfleger, Ryan Wishart, and Dave Cooper. 2012.
“Mountain Justice.” in Transforming Places: Lessons from Appalachia edited by
Stephen Fisher and Barbara Ellen Smith. University of Illinois Press.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work has been a long process, nearly a decade in the making. Its hard to
believe it has been so long since my fellow University of Tennessee graduate students,
Andrew Gunnoe, Shannon Williams, and John Bradford helped me learn the ropes of
Marxist theory and political economy and first introduced me to Monthly Review. My
mentors there, Robert Jones and Paul Gellert, have continued to provide feedback and
encouragement.
At Oregon my research has benefited from the comradeship of my fellow
graduate students Cade Jameson, Hannah Holleman, Jamil Jonna, Christina Ergas,
Martha Carmago, Philip Mancus, Becky Clausen, Shannon Bell, Wes Shirley, Katie
Rodgers, Brian Rosenburg, Chris Hardnack, Dave Dominguez, Matthew Clement,
Miriam Abelson, Sierra Deutsch, Intan Suwandi, and Jordan Besek.
My committee members, Richard York, Michael Dreiling, and Joe Fracchia have
provided invaluable guidance and support inside and outside the classroom. I would also
like to make special thanks to Val Burris. John Bellamy Foster has been a mentor to me
not only in guiding me through the vastness of the academic literature around my
problems of interest but also in the wider and, more important, world of intellectual life
as work and as a craft. Last, but not least, I must give credit to my love, Liz Veazey,
whose patience and support for me has been without limit. The best aspects of this
dissertation reflect their influence while any shortcomings are surely my own.
The Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics provided support for me as a
dissertation fellow indispensible to completing this project.
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For the newest generation, Danerys, Epenai, Eli, Max, Gabe and West and the struggle
for the world they will inherit.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page

I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1
II. INTERNAL PERIPHERIES AND MODES OF EXTRACTION PART I:
APPALACHIA AS PERSITENT EXTRACTIVE PERIPHERY ............................... 29
III. INTERNAL PERIPHERIES AND MODES OF EXTRACTION PART II: THE
SHIFTING CONTRADICTIONS OF COAL’S SOCIOMETABOLIC REGIME ..... 78
IV. SOCIOECONOMIC OUTCOMES IN COAL PRODUCING COUNTIES ......... 104
V. THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF COAL IN THE US POWER STRUCTURE:
MONOPOLY CAPITAL AND THE POLITICS OF COAL AND CLIMATE.......... 126
VI. STANDING ON A MOUNTAINTOP: MTR AS A NEXUS OF METABOLIC
RIFTS ........................................................................................................................... 162
VII. CONCLUSION: TOWARD AN ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY OF
EXTRACTIVE ECONOMIES .................................................................................... 182
APPENDIX: ADDITIONAL ITEMS .......................................................................... 189
REFERENCES CITED ................................................................................................ 191
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