Identity subtexts in the discursive construction of sustainability
Published: 2005
Abstract:
This paper introduces a critical discourse analysis of identity subtexts in the construction of corporate environmental sustainability. It argues that subtexts of identity may be traced in the literature of environmental sustainability, and that these subtexts are naturalized and therefore made invisible within the texts themselves. Moreover, deep underlying identity positions are shaken, jostled, and threatened by the call for sustainability, for advocates of both strong and weak sustainability alike. Identity resides at the heart of sustainability discourse and sustainability debates, and ultimately it is the fear of identity-loss, rather than economic profit or scientific rationality, that underlies management discourse on sustainability.
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