How im(moral) is the “Nimby” stance? Elements into the Ethics of “environmental” conflicts

Abstract

Abstract. The extensive use of the acronym NIMBY (“not in my back yard”) by social scientists and society at large (i) is supposed to describe an existing phenomenon, even if it is admittedly ill-defined and elusive and (ii) became the indicator of a set of social, ideological and moral choices, and is used as a tool to depreciatively qualify the resistance and protest of communities against the implementation of projects affecting them (in particular their water resources). The argument relies on two oppositions: (i) at the social level, between “private” (namely individual) interests and the “general interest” or “common good” and (ii) from a moral perspective, the split between an egocentric or selfish attitude and an altruistic one. From a methodological perspective, Nimbyism tends to be analyzed at the individual level: attitudes, motivations, self-interest calculation and rationality. We will consider this complex phenomenon on a social scale, taking into account convergence of interests and solidarity among concerned individuals, propagation of protests beyond the local level, and the process of aggregation of particular actions to constitute genuine social movements. A reappraisal of the ethics of so-called “Nimbyism.”