Estruturas de poder e a questão ambiental: a reprodução da desigualdade de classe

The aim of this article is to place the so-called “environmental issue” in perspective. We seek to deny the notion of an essentialized universal cause, simultaneously reinforcing the unequal distribution of benefits of environmental conservation as well as the socialization of risks towards the various social groups. We emphasize the discursive disputes regarding the formulation of environmental problems and their solutions, noting the importance of cognition and classification in consensus building. The struggle for power, in this case, is essential, as it is articulated with the possibility of legitimizing some discourses and practices. Thus, the State emerges as a central figure once it ideologically unifies values embedded in the subjective structure of society, becoming an important subject of dispute for power. The environmental conflict is within this context of physical and symbolic disputes, and it helps to deconstruct the notion of a homogeneous society as well as the one of a universal State above class interests