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keeping with the ideas of science and religion)
suggest that humans are somehow separate from
the rest of nature. On the other hand, Smith des-
cribes a
universal ideology of nature
, within which
humans are seen to be as much a part of nature
as any other component of the biosphere. While
these two ideologies of nature may seem to be
contradictory, Smith outlines the ways in which
they have been deployed within capitalist societies
to support the expanded transformation of the
natural world. In relation to external ideologies
of nature, Smith describes the ways in which capi-
talism has transformed environmental resources
from parts of a complex web of ecological systems
to being individual commodities that belong in the
market place. This is how forests become timber,
cows become beef and grass becomes fodder.
Of course, by objectifying nature in this way,
capitalism has made it much easier for people to
accept the wholesale transformation of the natural
world, as the environmental consequences of these
actions become obscured by long commodity
chains and complex market place exchanges. Smith
also argues that universal (or internal) ideologies
of nature have proved important to the capitalist
enterprise. By positioning humans within a natural
order of things, universal ideologies of nature have
enabled ruling elites to promote a moral code of
conduct, and a related sense of the virtue of labour
among the working classes. While both the external
and universal ideologies of nature may have
originated within science and religion, Smith claims
that it is only under capitalism that they became a
fully functioning part of our social and economic
systems, and, as such, a basis for the wholesale
transformation of the global environment.
mental transformation, and various theories that
provide explanations for these behaviours. Since
the late 1960s, governments and various environ-
mental NGOs have been striving to make human
behaviours more environmentally sustainable
(Bullen and Whitehead, 2005). This section of the
chapter explores the types of policies and strategies
that have emerged over this time period. In explor-
ing these attempts to reform human behaviours
towards the environment, this section suggests that
there has been an important shift in these policy
regimes. This shift has seen a move away from
economically orientated policies (such as taxes and
subsidies) towards more psychologically oriented
initiatives (see Jones et al, 2011a; 2011b; 2013). We
also see that this policy shift has been connected
to a changing understanding of the nature of
human behaviour.
8.4.1 Environmental policies and
the rationality assumption
Throughout much of the history of modern
government, bureaucrats have designed policies
that assume people act in predictable and rational
ways (Whitehead et al, 2011). Now, what is deemed
to be a rational (or irrational) decision is hotly
contested, and tends to vary between different time
periods. On these terms it is best to think of
rationality not in terms of the outcome of a
particular decision, but in relation to how that
decision was made. Understood in this way,
rational action is associated with a series of
interconnected practices. To act rationally involves
time being taken to carefully deliberate on your
best course of available action. Acting rationally
also tends to rely on you being in possession of the
information you need to make an informed choice
and an ability to interpret this data effectively.
Finally, modern understandings of rationality tend
to assume that the decisions we make involve us
acting in our own best interest (in other words
focusing primarily on the benefits that a course of
action will bring to us, and not on the wider social
or environmental implications of that action).
8.4 CHANGING HUMAN
ENVIRONMENTAL
BEHAVIOURS: BEYOND
HOMOECONOMICUS
So far in this chapter we have established the
changing patterns of individual human behaviour
that are associated with modern forms of environ-
