Steel, Nature and Society

Abstract

The paper analyses the impact of free-market corporate logic on nature and society through focusing on ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel producer. The rapid expansion of this company from the Global South was achieved through strategic acquisitions of privatized state steel companies. This growth is characterized by processes which seriously altered nature in ways which proved detrimental to society. This impact is considered through field research in a South African community living in proximity to the steel mill in the Vaal Triangle. The paper evaluates both local and global mobilizations for nature, concluding that a movement-orientated globalization from below appears to be the only pathway to challenge the logic of global corporations.