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Book Review
| The Light-Green Society: Ecology and Technological Modernity in France, 1960–2000. By Michael Bess. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. xix + 368 pp. Bibliographical references and index. Cloth $48.00, paper $18.00.
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| In this exceptionally well-written book, Bess shows how changes in France and French environmentalism have both paralleled and diverged from changes in other industrialized democracies in the past four decades. In Part I, Bess lays out the groundwork for the overarching theme of the book: that contemporary France has been beset by a conflict between a strong attachment to age-old traditions and the powerful lure of high technology and modernization. These countervailing forces have resulted in profound change in the social order: the development of a "light-green" society. While the French path to this new social order incorporated unique elements, Bess argues that this form of society has manifested itself around the world, particularly in industrialized democracies. |
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Part II chronicles the history of environmentalism in France from marginal roots prior to 1960 to growth as a grassroots movement in the 1960s to wide scale integration into French society in the 1990s. Despite being perceived as an "anti-green" society, Bess shows that France has had a strong green presence and green ideology has played a central role in its modernization. Although the history of French environmentalism diverges in some respects from that of other industrialized democracies (e.g., losing the fight against nuclear power), its history also parallels the growth of environmentalism elsewhere (e.g., gaining strength during the social turmoil of the 1960s). |
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Part III elaborates upon characteristics of France as a light-green society. Such a society, Bess argues, is characterized by a "two-way blurring of the boundary between the 'social' and the 'natural'" (p. 161). Society has been incorporated into nature and vice versa. Bess documents the greening of consumerism, the state and even industrialists within France. While environmentalists promoted more profound changes, what they achieved was much more modest—although they didn't "win," neither did they completely "lose." |
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The final part of the book is a philosophical deliberation on the implications of light-green societies beyond the specifics of contemporary France. The proliferation of human impacts and control throughout the world has obscured the dualistic notion of a nature apart from society. If nature is no longer separate from us, what is it we are attempting to preserve? Bess sees this growing hybridization of nature (society blended with nature) as actually opening up greater avenues in our relationship with the natural world. Rather than dismissing those elements of nature that have been affected by humans, he argues that we need to see nature on a continuum, from the most pristine (with minimal human influence) to the least pristine. While we will always value the most pristine areas for the transcendence they provide beyond the social world, we also should value the "nature" that exists in less pristine forms. |
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Bess has done an excellent job documenting contemporary French environmental history, situating it within a broader perspective, and delving into its philosophical implications. This book would make an excellent addition to any environmental historian's library and would be useful in upper-division and graduate courses in environmental history, environmental sociology, and social movements. |
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Angela G. Mertig is an associate professor of sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Middle Tennessee State University. She has written extensively on the American environmental movement and environmental attitudes in the United States and Europe. |
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