William Freudenburg

William Robert ('Bill') Freudenburg, (2 November 1951 – 28 December 2010) was an environmental sociologist and social theorist, best known for his work in rural sociology on the topics of risk perception, social disruption, and the causes of environmental degradation. Born in Madison, Nebraska, raised in West Point, Nebraska, he was educated at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Yale University. Freudenburg was a professor of sociology at a number of universities; his ultimate position was as Dehlsen Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He died at his home in Santa Barbara, of cholangiocarcinoma (cancer of the bile duct). Rather than being due mainly to the actions of individual consumers, Freudenburg argued, much or most of all environmental harm is actually due to a small number of organized producers. Contrary to the notion that environmental protection is bad for the economy and jobs, the worst sources of environmental harm are commonly due to a surprisingly small fraction of all economic activity—and to an even smaller fraction of the jobs. In the first peer-reviewed article in which this perspective was spelled out, for example, Freudenburg found that the majority of all toxic emissions in the U.S. economy came from industries that were responsible for only about 5% of the gross national product—and just 1.4% of the nation's jobs.

The March 2012 issue of the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences featured a "Symposium on the Legacy of William R. Freudenburg".