Contextualizing the Case : Central Appalachia -- Micro-Level Processes and Social Movement Participation -- The Depletion of Social Capital in Coalfield Communities -- Identity and Environmental Justice Movement Participation -- Cognitive Liberation and Coal Industry Ideology -- Cognitive Liberation and Hidden Destruction in Central Appalachia -- Photovoice in Five Coalfield Communities -- Becoming, and Un-Becoming, an Activist
Summary
In the coal-mining region of Central Appalachia, mountaintop-removal mining and coal-industry-related flooding, water contamination, and illness have led to the emergence of a grassroots, women-driven environmental justice movement. But the number of local activists is small relative to the affected population, and recruiting movement participants from within the region is an ongoing challenge. In 'Fighting King Coal', Shannon Elizabeth Bell examines an understudied puzzle within social movement theory: why so few of the many people who suffer from industry-produced environmental hazards and pollution rise up to participate in social movements aimed at bringing about social justice and industry accountability
