Insider Perspectives on Institutional Change in Contemporary British Forestry: Identity and Environmental Governance

Abstract

investigate British forestry policy using original primary data from interviews with staff working for the Forestry Commission. Insight is provided into one of Britain's oldest institutions of environmental governance as it sought to redefine its contribution to society at a particularly turbulent period in its recent history. The work is presented in relationship to institutional change in rural areas, environmental governance, and postproductivism. A conceptual framework is employed using ideas from Giddens's structuration theory, Goffman's collaborative production of identities, and Foucault's discourse theory. Particular attention is paid to the implications of transitions for collective and individual work-based identities.