The role of symbolic capital in stakeholder disputes: Decision-making concerning intractable wastes

Benn, S; Jones, R

The role of symbolic capital in stakeholder disputes: Decision-making concerning intractable wastes

Benn, S

Jones, R

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Environmental Management, 2009, 90 (4), pp. 1593 - 1604
Issue Date:: 2009-04-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Benn, S https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5282-2255	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Jones, R	en_US
dc.date.available	2008-05-24	en_US
dc.date.issued	2009-04-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Environmental Management, 2009, 90 (4), pp. 1593 - 1604	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0301-4797	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/8570
dc.description.abstract	This paper examines almost 30 years of disputation concerning the disposal of the world's largest stockpile of the toxic organochlorine, hexachlorbenzene. It describes the study of a chemicals company in its attempt to manage the disposal of the toxic waste in a collaborative fashion with government, environmentalists and the local community. The study describes the new processes and structures specifically designed to address the decision-making and the issues of stakeholder perception and identity construction which have influenced the outcomes. Decision-making in such disputes is often theorized from the perspective of the emergence of highly individualized and reflexive risk communities and changing modes and expectations of corporate responsibility as a result of detraditionalization. We argue that the stakeholder interaction in this study reflects competing discourses in which corporate actors prioritize the building and maintaining of identity and symbolic capital rather than an active collaboration to solve the ongoing issue of the waste. As well, issues of access to expert knowledge highlight the relationship between conditions of uncertainty, technoscientific expertise and identity. The events of the study highlight the challenges faced by contemporary technoscientific corporations such as chemicals companies as they must deliver on requirements of transparency and openness, while maintaining technoscientific capacity and strong internal identity. We conclude that the study demonstrates the co-existence of social processes of individualization and detraditionalization with quasi-traditions which maintain authority, thus challenging the radical distinctions made in the literature between modernity and late or reflexive modernity. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Environmental Management	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/j.jenvman.2008.05.014	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Environmental Sciences	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Hexachlorobenzene	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Industrial Waste	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Communication	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Dissent and Disputes	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Decision Making	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Conservation of Natural Resources	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Hazardous Waste	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Waste Management	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	History, 20th Century	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	History, 21st Century	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Australia	en_US
dc.title	The role of symbolic capital in stakeholder disputes: Decision-making concerning intractable wastes	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	4	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	90	en_US
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
dc.location.activity	ISI:000264634600006	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.issue	4	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	90	en_US

Abstract:

This paper examines almost 30 years of disputation concerning the disposal of the world's largest stockpile of the toxic organochlorine, hexachlorbenzene. It describes the study of a chemicals company in its attempt to manage the disposal of the toxic waste in a collaborative fashion with government, environmentalists and the local community. The study describes the new processes and structures specifically designed to address the decision-making and the issues of stakeholder perception and identity construction which have influenced the outcomes. Decision-making in such disputes is often theorized from the perspective of the emergence of highly individualized and reflexive risk communities and changing modes and expectations of corporate responsibility as a result of detraditionalization. We argue that the stakeholder interaction in this study reflects competing discourses in which corporate actors prioritize the building and maintaining of identity and symbolic capital rather than an active collaboration to solve the ongoing issue of the waste. As well, issues of access to expert knowledge highlight the relationship between conditions of uncertainty, technoscientific expertise and identity. The events of the study highlight the challenges faced by contemporary technoscientific corporations such as chemicals companies as they must deliver on requirements of transparency and openness, while maintaining technoscientific capacity and strong internal identity. We conclude that the study demonstrates the co-existence of social processes of individualization and detraditionalization with quasi-traditions which maintain authority, thus challenging the radical distinctions made in the literature between modernity and late or reflexive modernity. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/8570