Reflexivity and self-referentiality:: On the normative foundations of ecological communication

This chapter suggests that in the rich industrialized world the currently dominant form of societal communication and action upon the natural environment is the discourse and strategy of ecological modernization. It is maintained that this discourse has superseded earlier and in some cases still competing paradigms of framing and processing the relationship of modern society to its natural environment. Arguing that the understanding of this discourse, its social function and its capacities in terms of the ecological restructuring of late modern societies is still rather limited, this chapter explores the normative foundations of the ecological modernization approach. It suggests that the eco-reformative capacities of ecological communication in the contemporary sense are rather limited, but that the primary function of ecological modernization discourse ought to be seen as providing reassurance to an increasingly postmodern society that needs to simulate the ongoing validity of its fading modernist foundations. Methodologically, this chapter builds on the recent literature in environmental sociology and offers a critique of the concept of reflexive modernization.