Many people live in circumstances of environmental suffering: exposure to contaminated natural resources and toxic chemicals due to a history of accident or misuse. Environmental suffering is disproportionately experienced by politically, ethnically, and economically disadvantaged group members. An analysis rooted in the concept of false consciousness (Gabel, 1975) suggests that environmental suffering narratives tend toward perspectival distortions. Although narratives from disadvantaged group members may contain defensive distortions, these are warranted by experiences of environmental suffering, and expert narratives also regularly contain distortions. Disadvantaged narratives of environmental suffering tend toward spatializing distortions: emphasizing spatial aspects, objectifying people and agents, and fixating on a tragic past. Advantaged narratives of environmental suffering tend toward temporalizing distortions: emphasizing temporal aspects, refusing to clearly assign blame, and fixating on a “miraculous” future. We present a preliminary supporting study, using quantitative text analysis, of parallel environmental suffering narratives from community members, EPA officials, and other experts.

中文翻译：

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环境痛苦的空间化和时间化

许多人生活在环境痛苦的环境中：由于事故或误用的历史，接触受污染的自然资源和有毒化学品。政治、种族和经济上处于不利地位的群体成员不成比例地经历了环境苦难。一项植根于虚假意识概念的分析 (Gabel, 1975) 表明，环境苦难的叙述倾向于透视扭曲。虽然来自弱势群体成员的叙述可能包含防御性扭曲，但这些都是由环境苦难的经历所保证的，专家的叙述也经常包含扭曲。环境苦难的不利叙述倾向于空间扭曲：强调空间方面，将人和代理人客观化，并专注于悲惨的过去。对环境苦难的有利叙述倾向于时间扭曲：强调时间方面，拒绝明确归咎于，并专注于“奇迹般的”未来。我们使用定量文本分析对社区成员、EPA 官员和其他专家的平行环境苦难叙述进行了初步支持研究。