Post-Postmaterialism: New Materialism and an Environmentalism of Practice

In the classic notion of post-materialism, environmental concerns are seen as part of a range of interests that emerge after basic needs are met. As people get comfortable in their material lives, the claim is that they develop a set of post-material values based in quality of life, self-expression, and human rights. Such postmaterial actors then insist that public policy be reflective of these values. This thesis has long been problematic, in terms of both an ongoing interest in economic inequality in developed nations, and the obvious concern for environmental issues on the part of less well-off populations in both developing and developed states. This paper examines a different, political, critique of postmaterialism. There is an important implementation deficit with regard to postmaterial concerns. Frustration with the disconnect between environmental values and the everyday political, cultural, and industrial landscape has led to new movements with a different, more applied, sense of political action. Emerging partly as a result of the failure of the postmaterialist political model, these movements take the form of counter- and alter- practices and flows that pose new challenges to the postmaterialist theoretical frame. No longer willing to take part in unsustainable practices and institutions, and not satisfied with a purely individualistic consumer or electoral response, the focus is increasingly on building new collective institutions around everyday practices of material sustainability of food, energy, and other products. Based in an examination of a range of movements at the intersection of environment, consumption, and everyday life, this paper develops a critique of the postmaterialist thesis, and offers a theoretical frame with which to understand the motivations, foci, and practices of new materialist politics and movements.