Issues of Critical Environmental Education Theory Rooted in the Criticism of Capitalism

- K. Marx’s Theory of Value and Environmental Issues -

Abstract

  When handling issues of ESD, or Kogai education as it is referred to in Japanese, it is unavoidable to deal with capitalism. When it comes to environmental education, capitalism has been criticized, but much of the discussion has focused on individual ideas and ideologies rather than on the social structure itself. From an eco-Marxist point of view, however, ethical solutions do not make much sense without understanding and changing the capitalistic modes of production. The purpose of this paper is to examine environmental issues and the social structure of capitalism from the viewpoint of K. Marx's theory of value, and to draw out the issues of critical environmental education theory rooted in the criticism of capitalism.

  In capitalism based on the fundamental distinction between nature (means of production) and human beings, people depend on the exchange of means of life in the market. In doing so, various goods are exchanged based on value assessed by the socially necessary labor-time spent on individual goods. As a result, value controls the production and distribution of labor products in society. Capitalists follow this law of value, not only wasting nature that is not directly involved in value formation, but also using technology to exploit nature to gain more surplus value.

  Based on this theoretical consideration, the issue of critical environmental education as a critique of capitalism is to understand environmental issues as those rooted in the economic system of capitalism itself, and to place the object of educational change not in people's ideas, but in the actions of people governed by the laws of value.