Imagining beyond nature-culture dualism: An exploration of ecological justice
Claire-Isabelle Roquebert -HEC Lausanne, Switzerland, Gervaise Debucquet - Audencia Business School, France
Abstract
In the face of rising sustainability issues, increasing numbers of organisations are trying to build
compromises between their economic purpose and ecological objectives. Organisational studies
focus on the analysis of such compromise processes but most studies do not seek to grasp
the substantial changes advocated by ecological critiques. Our research is aimed at addressing
that gap by clarifying the radical view sustained by ecological imaginary beyond conventional
compromise processes. We engage in a qualitative study of biodynamics – an agricultural method
based on a radical ecological imaginary – to evaluate its moral underpinnings through Boltanski
and Thévenot’s Economies of Worth framework. Our findings help us to grasp the radical moral
substance of ecological critique and to extend that framework beyond its dualist assumption. By
highlighting antagonisms between meta-conceptions of justice rather than analysing compromises,
our research provides insights into the radical organisational changes advocated by ecological
critiques.
Keywords
antagonisms, biodynamic farming, ecological critique, economies of worth, imaginaries, natureculture
dualism, sustainability