Envisioning Ecotopia: The U.S. Green Movement and the Politics of Radical Social Change (175)

How do various worldviews, praxis orientations, and preferred future visions differ between the three major subcultures within the American Green Movement? Drawing on his experience as an activist, Kenn Kassman explains the distinctions between the three elements, which he terms Neo-Primitivism, Mystical Deep Ecology, and Social Ecology. What emerges is a perceptive analysis of one of the most important of North America's new social movements: the Greens. Kassman examines and contradistinguishes the approach of each element in the movement to the general Green agenda--ecological harmony, social justice, societal participation, and nonviolence--and goes on to explore potential weaknesses in the utopias they seek. The study concludes with the author's considered view of the likely progress and development of the three components in the future. He asks and suggests an answer to the question: what, ultimately, will be regarded as the political and social significance of the Green movement? Kassman's work will be of interest to scholars, students, and activists in politics and environmental studies.