Why can't they work together? A framework for understanding conflict and collaboration in two environmental disputes in Southeast Michigan

Abstract

Purpose – This chapter analyzes two environmental conflicts in Southeast Michigan. It analyzes how activists in each community framed each conflict and what factors prevented the groups from collaborating. Design/methodology/approach – This essay uses a multi-method approach. Researchers used participant observation, interviews, and archival information gleaned from government documents and newspapers. Findings – Both community groups had a common opponent – a corporation that had closed its facilities in a predominantly black, low-income urban community and relocated it to a predominantly white, middle-class, rural community. Both communities had complaints about pollution, yet they did not collaborate with each other in their campaigns against the corporation. Originality/value – The essay blends two theoretical approaches – social movement and conflict theories – to help in the assessment of how the conflicts unfolded and why collaboration between activists in the two communities did not occur. This is one of the first attempts to analyze environmental justice conflicts from this perspective.