Private property wrongs: Uncovering the contradictory articulations of an hegemonic ideology

One of the most effective sources of legitimation for privileged access to the environment and its natural resources comes in the form of hegemonic ideologies, such as private property rights. The concentratiosn of ownership and control over land and natural resources is rarely contested, because to question the rights of an industrial actor's property rights would be to question the ideological premise that private property ownership promotes societal well-being and progress. The staying power of this and other hegemonic ideologies, however, derives from the ability to keep certain internal contradictions associated with those ideologies concealed. Using recent conceptual work on ideology, this article focuses on recent events in forest politics in northern California, to illustrate the means by which environmental catastrophe has served as a source of vulnerability to the present hegemony of the ideology of private property rights. As with other instances of environmental justice mobilization, this case illustrates how the ability to elucidate contradictions in hegemonic ideologies may provide a more potent avenue for social transformation than attempts to introduce alternative ideologies.