Social rules are all around us, sometimes they are prominent and in the face of society and sometimes they play behind the scene not noticed by many. In Paul Steinberg’s Who Rules the Earth: How Social Rules Shape Our Planet and Our Lives, spotlight is brought on understanding the effects that social rules play in making changes through environmental politics. With the main argument of changing the way we view conceptual and physical problems in society, Steinberg makes the point of moving on from the mantra of “thinking globally, act locally” and into ‘thinking vertically’—thinking and acting at multiple levels, to make progress on vexing social and environmental problems (Steinberg 2015, 163).
Outlining the author’s framework, Steinberg aims to show that institutions have social roles that they must take in consideration when reaching out to their audience. Social rules take on a common form, commonly understood as the three R’s: roles, rights, and responsibilities (Steinberg 2015, 27).
“The world’s nation are now haggling over the three R’s with respect to climate change, debating which countries have an obligation to control emissions of carbon dioxide and how this responsibility is weighted against rights to economic development and national sovereignty (p. 27).”
Taking into consideration how social rules play into environmental changes, brings to light how complicated things can be. This structure is not only found in institutions but amongst our individual actions. Social rules help outline the changing power that institutions have. Social rules play an important role in environmental concerns because we can no longer count on the idea of goodwill of volunteers that change their lifestyle for a worthy cost. Leaving behind the ideal of individual action and instead moving forward with thinking vertically and the power that institutions can help us create social change.
Steinberg makes clear that institutional power is important to introducing change. Government matters in the context of effective environmental policy. While there is the constant notion that governments don’t do their job of putting change in place, Steinberg challenges that by stating “To those who worry that government rules are at best a nuisance, I suggest spending more time in a place that doesn’t have them (Steinberg 2015).” Steinberg brings in a global context of perspective in understanding the power that governance has to help push change. We must put into perspective that citizens are able to organize, devise strategy, and deploy change through the power of national governments. “Grassroots activism and government policy are intertwined (Steinberg 2015, 134).” So why not harvest that energy and take the added power of the citizen and governance to really spark change at large-scale?
Critiquing the old adage of ‘think globally and act locally’ as being too simplistic in the representation of environmental problems and solutions available. Steinberg introduces ‘thinking vertically’, a new adage used to encourage the idea that individuals should think and act at multiple levels to make progress on vexing and environmental problems (Steinberg 2015, 163). This furthers the notion of not just institutional action, but also realizing that there is not one set scale or routine that will always work in regards to advocating environmental change. Instead, we must move forward and look at the problem through multiple lens that will allow for different perspectives to come into play that will allow for multiple actions.
Finishing strong, Steinberg ends the book speaking on the eight principles of institutional action to move forward with change. He makes them general enough in the aim for them to be used in multiple diverse settings but specific enough to tailor change amongst the topics discussed in the book (Steinberg 2015, 267-279). Starting by telling readers to ‘Bridge Research and Action’ and ending with advocating that readers keep recycling, Steinberg gives the final push to his argument. Acknowledging that the wicked problems that can evolve in the environmental sphere, Steinberg promotes that use of different perspectives and solutions to keep change going and eventually, taking part in ruling the world.
Reflecting back on my readings of Who Rules the Earth?, allowed for me to further solidify my stances on the importance and power of institutional and political governance. It really allowed me to put into perspective and value the notion that we must respect and learn to merge institutions to push for a bigger change. As an aspiring political science and environmental studies double major, it influenced and encouraged me to branch into new fields and perspectives of environmental policy and political ecology. As a student and individual that would like to make change in the environmental sphere, Steinberg pushed me further into thinking conceptually and believing in governance over individual action.
References
Steinberg, Paul F. 2015. Who Rules the Earth?: How Social Rules Shape Our Planet and Our Lives. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.