Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Inaction and environmental crisis: Narrative, defence mechanisms and the social organisation of denial

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The evidence that we face a catalogue of environmental crises caused by human activities, which pose a threat to planetary, social and personal continuity, is communicated in increasingly sophisticated ways. Despite increased knowledge, the populaces of wealthy nations appear to be outwardly ignoring such risks, continuing their consumption patterns unabated, and failing to mount a significant public response. Interventions aimed at encouraging more sustainable behaviours have largely drawn on individualistic psychology, and to date they have been largely unsuccessful. This paper is a call to deepen and widen our understanding of the psychosocial processes involved in not responding to the issues at stake. It does so by drawing on narrative approaches in the social sciences, psychoanalytic conceptualisations of defence mechanisms, and recent work addressing the social organisation of denial. The potential of these developments for informing social movements and political action is briefly considered in the light of an example, the Dark Mountain Project.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The term ‘Dark Mountain’ is taken from the final lines of the poem Rearmament (1935), by the late American environmentalist poet Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962). The poem ends: ‘To change the future... I should do foolishly. The beauty of modern/ Man is not in the persons but in the/Disastrous rhythm, the heavy and mobile masses, the dance of the/Dream-led masses down the dark mountain.’ The poem is available in full at: www.poemhunter.com/poem/rearmament/.

  2. See for example the Story of Stuff at: www.storyofstuff.org; Follow the things at: www.followthethings.com/; Slavery Footprint at http://slaveryfootprint.org/.

References

  • Abram, D. and Hine, D. (2011) Coming to our (animal) senses. In: P. Kingsnorth and D. Hine (eds.) Dark Mountain Issue 2. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project, pp. 61–73.

  • Bauman, Z. (2000) Liquid Modernity. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernsten, D. and Rubin, D.C. (2004) Cultural life scripts structure recall from autobiographical memory. Memory and Cognition 32 (3): 427–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bion, W.R. (1952) Group dynamics: A re-view. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis 33 (2): 235–247.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bord, R., Fisher, A. and O’Connor, R. (1998) Public perceptions of global warming: United States and international perspectives. Climate Research 11 (1): 75–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brechin, S. (2003) Comparative public opinion and knowledge on global climatic change and the Kyoto Protocol: The U.S. versus the world? International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 23 (10): 106–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. (1986) Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, S. (2001) States of Denial: Knowing About Atrocities and Suffering. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, S. (2012) Discussion: Climate change in a perverse culture. In: S. Weintrobe (ed.) Engaging with Climate Change: Psychoanalytic and Interdisciplinary Perspectives. London: Routledge, pp. 72–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crossley, M. (2000) Narrative psychology, trauma, and the study of self/identity. Theory and Psychology 10 (4): 527–546.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Czarniawska-Joerges, B. (2004) Narratives in Social Science Research. London: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Denzin, N.K. (1984) On Understanding Emotion. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickinson, J.L. (2009) The people paradox: Self-esteem striving, immortality ideologies, and human response to climate change. Ecology and Society 4 (1): 34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Draper, W. (2011) The shuttle exchanged for the sword. In: P. Kingsnorth and D. Hine (eds.) Dark Mountain Issue 2. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project, pp. 131–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eden, D. (2012) Angels of love in the unhappiness factory. Subjectivity 5 (1): 15–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fairlie, S. (2010) The tragedy of the tragedy of the commons. In: P. Kingsnorth and D. Hine (eds.) Dark Mountain Issue 1. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project, pp. 178–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fivush, R. (2010) Speaking silence: The social construction of silence in autobiographical narratives. Memory 18 (2): 88–98.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, M.P. (2012) The narrative unconscious. Contemporary Psychoanalysis 48 (1): 344–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frie, R. (2012) On culture, history, and memory: Encountering the “narrative unconscious.” Contemporary Psychoanalysis 48 (3): 329–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, J. (2010) Uncivilization: The Dark Mountain manifesto. New Statesman 10th September, http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2009/09/civilisation-planet-authors, accessed 13 February 2012.

  • Gupta, V. (2011) Death and the human condition. In: P. Kingsnorth and D. Hine (eds.) Dark Mountain Issue 2. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project, pp. 76–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hine, D., Kingsnorth, P. and Odasso, A. (eds.) (2012) Dark Mountain Issue 3. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hine, D. and Samuel, S. (2012) Rehoming society: Ivan Illich and the vernacular. In: D. Hine, P. Kingsnorth and A. Odasso (eds.) Dark Mountain Issue 3. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project, pp. 90–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobson, K. (2006) Environmental psychology and the geographies of ethical and sustainable consumption: Aligning, triangulating, challenging? Area 38 (3): 292–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoggett, P. (2011) Climate change and the apocalyptic imagination. Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society 16 (3): 261–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollander, N.C. (2009) When not knowing allies with destructiveness: Global warming and psychoanalytic ethical non-neutrality. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 6 (1): 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holloway, J. (2010) Crack Capitalism. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hudson, I. and Hudson, M. (2003) Removing the veil? Commodity fetishism, fair trade, and the environment. Organization and Environment 16 (4): 413–440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hulme, M. (2009) Why we Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, N. (2010) Loss soup. In: P. Kingsnorth and D. Hine (eds.) Dark Mountain Issue 1. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project, pp. 23–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaques, E. (1953) On the dynamics of social structure: A contribution to the psychoanalytic study of social phenomena deriving from the views of Melanie Klein. Human Relations 6 (3): 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaques, E. (1955) Social systems as a defence against persecutory and depressive anxiety. In: M. Klein, P. Heimann and R.E. Money-Kyrle (eds.) New Directions in Psycho-Analysis. London: Tavistock Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacques, P.J., Dunlap, R.E. and Freeman, M. (2008) The organisation of denial: Conservative think tanks and environmental scepticism. Environmental Politics 17: 349–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kasper, D.V.S. (2009) Ecological habitus: Toward a better understanding of socioecological relations. Organization and Environment 22 (3): 311–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kidner, D. (2001) Nature and Psyche: Radical Environmentalism and the Politics of Subjectivity. New York, NY: Suny.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingsnorth, P. (2010) Why I stopped believing in environmentalism and started the Dark Mountain Project. The Guardian, 29 April. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/29/environmentalism-dark-mountain-project, accessed 16 February 2012.

  • Kingsnorth, P. and Hine, D. (2009) Uncivilisation: The Dark Mountain Manifesto. www.dark-mountain.net/wordpress/dark-mountain.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads//uncivilisation-dark-mountain-manifesto.pdf, accessed 6 July 2012.

  • Kingsnorth, P. and Hine, D. (eds.) (2010) Editorial: It’s the end of the world as we know it (and we feel fine). In: Dark Mountain Issue 1. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project, pp. 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingsnorth, P. and Hine, D. (eds.) (2011a) Editorial: Control and other iIllusions. In: Dark Mountain Issue 2. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project, pp. 1–3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingsnorth, P. and Hine, D. (eds.) (2011b) Dark Mountain Issue 2. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingsnorth, P. and Hine, D. (eds.) (2013) Dark Mountain Issue 4. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingsnorth, P. and Monbiot, G. (2009) Is there any point in fighting to stave off industrial apocalypse? Comment is Free, The Guardian 17 August. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/aug/17/environment-climate-change, accessed 6 July 2012.

  • Klein, N. (2011) On precaution. In: P. Kingsnorth and D. Hine (eds.) Dark Mountain Issue 2. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project, pp. 20–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff, G. (2010) Why it matters how we frame the environment. Environmental Communication 4 (1): 70–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langford, I.H. (2002) An existential approach to risk perception. Risk Analysis 22 (1): 101–120.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lasch, C. (1984) The Minimal Self: Psychic Survival in Troubled Times. London: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lertzman, R. (2008) The myth of apathy. The Ecologist, June. http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/other_comments/269433/the_myth_of_apathy.html, accessed 8 January 2013.

  • Lertzman, R. (2012) Researching psychic dimensions of moral exclusion in environmental conflict. Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society 17 (1): 92–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAdams, D.P. (1993) The Stories we Live by: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self. New York: Morrow.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy, C. (2007) The Road. London: Picador.

    Google Scholar 

  • McIntosh, A. (2010) Bombing Kelpies: A review by Alastair McIntosh of the journal, Dark Mountain, Vol. 1. Bella Caledonia, 30 June. http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2010/06/30/bombing-kelpies/, accessed 6 July 2012.

  • Magadoff, F. and Foster, J.B. (2010) What every environmentalist needs to know about capitalism. Monthly Review, 61: 1–22. http://monthlyreview.org/2010/03/01/what-every-environmentalist-needs-to-know-about-capitalism, accessed 6 July 2012.

  • Mazur, L. (2011) Inspiring action: The role of psychology in environmental campaigning and activism. Ecopsychology 3 (2): 139–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menzies Lyth, I.E.P (1960) The functions of social systems as a defence against anxiety: A report on a study of the nursing service of a general hospital. Human Relations 13 (2): 95–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monbiot, G. (2010) I share their despair, but I'm not quite ready to climb the Dark Mountain. The Guardian, 10 May. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/may/10/deepwater-horizon-greens-collapse-civilisation, accessed 8 July 2012.

  • Monroe, M.C. (2003) Two avenues for encouraging conservation behaviors. Human Ecology Review 10 (2): 113–125.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moser, S.C. and Dilling, L. (eds.) (2007) Creating a Climate for Change: Communicating Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Norgaard, K.M. (2006) People want to protect themselves a little bit: Emotions, denial, and social movement nonparticipation. Sociological Inquiry 76 (3): 372–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norgaard, K.M. (2011) Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions and Everyday Life. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Opotow, S. and Weiss, L. (2000) New ways of thinking about environmentalism: Denial and the process of moral exclusion in environmental conflict. Journal of Social Issues 56 (3): 475–490.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • PlanLoCal (2013) Behaviour change: theories, approach, guidance. Centre for Sustianable Energy. http://www.planlocal.org.uk/pages/getting-people-involved/behaviour-change-theories-approaches-and-guidance, accessed 18 March 2013.

  • Prieur, R. (2010) Beyond civilized and primitive. In: P. Kingsnorth and D. Hine (eds.) Dark Mountain Issue 1. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project, pp. 119–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Randall, R. (2009) Loss and climate change: The cost of parallel narratives. Ecopsychology 1 (3): 118–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rao, V. (2011) The return of the barbarian. In: P. Kingsnorth and D. Hine (eds.) Dark Mountain Issue 2. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project, pp. 32–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rees, W. (2010) What’s blocking sustainability? Human nature, cognition, and denial. Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy 6 (2): 13–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rember, J. (2011) Consensus and other realities. In: P. Kingsnorth and D. Hine (eds.) Dark Mountain Issue 2. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project, pp. 11–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, L. (1990) Narrative and sociology. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 19 (1): 116–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rustin, M. (2010) Looking for the unexpected: Psychoanalytic understanding and politics. British Journal of Psychotherapy 26 (4): 472–479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanne, C. (2002) Willing consumers – or locked-in? Policies for a sustainable consumption. Ecological Economics 42 (1–2): 273–287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarbin, T.R. (ed.) (1986) Narrative Psychology: The Storied Nature of Human Conduct. New York: Prager.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shove, E. (2010) Social theory and climate change: Questions often, sometimes and not yet asked. Theory, Culture and Society 27 (2–3): 277–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, C.H. (2011) The art of survival, Taoism and the warring states. In: P. Kingsnorth and D. Hine (eds.) Dark Mountain Issue 2. Ulverston: Dark Mountain Project, pp. 240–250.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soron, D. (2010) Sustainability, self-identity and the sociology of consumption. Sustainable Development 18: 172–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoll-Kleemann, S., O'Riordan, T. and Jaeger, C.C. (2011) The psychology of denial concerning climate mitigation measures: Evidence from Swiss focus groups. Global Environmental Change 11 (2): 107–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Townsend, S. (2010) Get down off your Dark Mountain: You're making matters worse. The Ecologist, 3 June. http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/other_comments/498336/get_down_off_your_dark_mountain_youre_making_matters_worse.html, accessed 6 July 2012.

  • Uzzell, D. and Räthzel, N. (2009) Transforming environmental psychology. Journal of Environmental Psychology 29 (3): 340–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, K. (2011) The record keeper’s visit to spurn point. In: P. Kingsnorth and D. Hine (eds.) Dark Mountain Issue 2. Dark Mountain Project, pp. 46–52.

  • Webb, J. (2012) Climate change and society: The chimera of behaviour change technologies. Sociology 46 (1): 109–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weintrobe, S. (2010) Engaging with climate change means engaging with our human nature. Ecopsychology 2: 119–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weintrobe, S. (ed.) (2012) The difficult problem of anxiety in thinking about climate change. In: Engaging with Climate Change: Psychoanalytic and Interdisciplinary Perspectives. London: Routledge, pp. 33–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worstall, T. (2010) The Dark Mountain Project. It is all obvious or trivial except…http://timworstall.com/2010/05/13/the-dark-mountain-project/, accessed 6 July 2012.

  • Worthy, K. (2008) Modern institutions, phenomenal dissociations, and destructiveness toward humans and the environment. Organization and Environment 21 (2): 148–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zerubavel, E. (2006) The Elephant in the Room: Silence and Denial in Everyday Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied Social Sciences, University of Brighton, Brighton, BN1 9HP, UK

    Matthew Adams

Authors
  1. Matthew Adams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Adams, M. Inaction and environmental crisis: Narrative, defence mechanisms and the social organisation of denial. Psychoanal Cult Soc 19, 52–71 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/pcs.2013.21

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/pcs.2013.21

Keywords

Search

Navigation