Antonia Schuster: Socio-Metabolic Class Conflicts

The Earth’s population of more than seven billion consume varying amounts of planetary resources with varying impacts on the environment.
I combine the analytical tools offered by the socio-ecological metabolism and class theory and propose a novel social stratification theory to identify the differences and hot spots in individual resource and energy use. In addition, I attempt to introduce the theoretical framework of "intersectionality" (Crenshaw, 1989) that could contribute to the operationalization of human agency and the understanding of international justice movements like Fridays For Future and Black Lives Matter in the context of possible social tipping points (Otto et al., 2020). Highlighting inequalities within societies is a step towards downscaling carbon emission reduction targets that are key to avoid transgressing the climate change planetary boundary.

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