Page 26 - Carbon Capitalism and Communication Confronting Climate Crisis

8 G. MURDOCK AND B. BREVINI

choice. Initially however, the economies emerging in the newly indepen-
dent former colonies of the major western powers were oriented to rapid
industrialisation. The transformation of countries like South Korea into
major sites of industrial production, with the associated consequences for
rising emissions, constituted the second major shift in the organisation of
capitalism in the post-war period. The third was the advent of nuclear
power and nuclear weapons, with the associated rise in levels of radioactive
particles from the series of tests conducted by the major powers.
In the mid-1970s, the advanced capitalist societies experienced a major
crisis of profitability. This opened a space that was increasing comman-
deered by market fundamentalist rhetoric that identified the causes of crisis
with the regime of regulation and state management installed in the post
war period. This had imposed curbs on corporate exploitation and boosted
the provision of public resources as key components of a social settlement
aimed at guaranteeing rights of citizenship rooted in full and equal social
participation. The counter argument that resource allocation was best
decided by corporations responding to market disciplines found powerful
political advocates in Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, and their
elections as heads of government in two of the leading capitalist economies
provided policy templates for a fundamental restructuring of both the
corporate system and the organisation of production and consumption that
was adopted in other major centres of capitalism.
Public assets were sold to private investors and previously monopoly or
protected markets were opened to competition, substantially expanding
the scope of corporate activity. At the same time, many of the regulations
that had imposed public interest restraints on these activities were removed
or diluted, giving companies significantly more flexibility in their opera-
tions. The easing of restrictions on mergers and acquisitions led to con-
certed waves of consolidation in a number of sectors, reinforcing the
political leverage that the major corporations could exert. Substantial
volumes of industrial production were moved overseas to take advantage of
the lower wage rates paid to labour in emerging economies. Many of these
offshore plants and factories relied on energy from low grade coal with high
levels of pollution. This was particularly evident in China where
market-oriented reforms had been introduced following the fall of Mao
Tse-tung, and where atmospheric pollution has emerged as a central focus
of public protest.
Concerted efforts to lower production costs were accompanied by a
major reengineering of social identities, moving away from the idea of