Industrialism, ecology and democracy. Essay about the political participation of three social actors

Abstract

This article attempts to interpret some dimensions of industrialism as a social regime that engender a specific political "ethos", the productivism, which aims a global appropriation of social resources belonging to the environment, scientific production and reproductive efforts of societies subordinated, or not, to the markets. In Brazilian contemporary society this appropriation or "the great transformation" of these resources, generates two processes related to democracy: firstly, a functional political participation which deepen productivism and secondly, an expanded participatory process opened to the nonplanned changes. This article explores the profiles and responsabilities of three social actors in Brazil (capitalists/workers, ecologists and scientific community) when hey face the difficult interplay of such twined process. Related to these questions are explored some post-industrialist scenaries of Northern societies searching for its "leit-motifs" or oriented-values, and one question is opened concerning the dilemma of the three actors in Brazil facing up such reorganization.