Power, Quiescence, and Pollution

Abstract

The number of communities dealing with industrial pollution in the United States has increased dramatically over the past three decades. Environmental campaigns have consequentially emerged and so has research on successful mobilizing efforts. A gap remains, however, on cases where mobilization fails to materialize. In this article, we develop a typology of power’s multidimensional nature in an effort to address mechanisms by which elites prompt quiescence in the face of grievous injustice. We then analyze a case in point, Blackwell, Oklahoma—a community contaminated with lead, zinc, and cadmium from a decommissioned zinc smelter facility—and the proactive and coercive methods used to maintain local quiescence. Despite assurances that the community had been successfully remediated in the mid-1990s, residents learned in 2006 that environmental pollution continued to emanate from the facility. Our data come from in-depth interviews with community residents and city officials, participant observation, and document analysis. Findings highlight forms of control employed to keep citizens quiescent and to thwart the efforts of more vocal residents in the community.