Nature and Social Theory

Nature and Social Theory
Author: Adrian Franklin
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2002
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780761963783

This book asks the questions can `Man' be separated from `Nature'? Is it valid to seek to `control' Nature? It argues that the firm modern boundaries between nature and culture have been breached and pulls together new strands of thinking about nature which suggest that humanity and nature have never been separate. The argument is developed through a critical discussion of the Romantic ideal of pure nature, unsullied by humanity and largely confined to fragile margins in need of protection and more recent discourses which identify nature with environment, and cast man in the role of a polluter and destroyer.

Nature and Social Theory

Nature and Social Theory
Author: Adrian Franklin
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2001-10-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1446233227

`Written with clarity and sophistication, it is not just an original argument about relationships of nature and culture, but also a useful text′ - Keith Tester, Professor of Sociology, University of Portsmouth Is humanity and society separable from nature? Modern accounts emphasised the difference between humanity and nature and set up independent sciences for each domain, but was this separation ever properly achieved? This book contends that fabricated boundaries between nature and culture have been breached both in practice and in new theoretical accounts. Throughout, Franklin develops upon his premise that nature and culture interpenetrate. The argument begins with a critical discussion of the Romantic idea of pure nature; of a nature unsullied by humanity, marginalized, fragile and in need of protection. The argument is developed by examining more recent discourses that identify nature with environment, and cast humans in the role of polluter and destroyer. The author documents contemporary views about nature which suggest that humanity and nature have never been separate but have always co-existed. Humanity is not only more involved with non-human natures, but also seeks persistently to embed itself in the natural world through embodied, naturalised modes of engagement. This book reveals the staggering depth of this engagement in the ordinary spaces and everyday lives of contemporary societies. Thorough and insightful, this book will be of use and interest to students of sociology, environmental studies and cultural studies.

The Nature and Types of Sociological Theory

The Nature and Types of Sociological Theory
Author: Don Martindale
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 573
Release: 2013-11-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1136225803

First Published in 1998. This is Volume XI of twenty-two in a series on Social Theory and Methodology. Notions are widespread that sociological theory is either an industrious activity on the drawing boards of the architects of fantasy or a branch of esoterics operating in a shadowy realm of semi-darkness. The present study holds neither of these conceptions of sociological. The present study’s function is to illuminate the difference between one theory and another. The power and reliability of a theory are not always evident all at once. A theory may have a power to explain what was not originally anticipated; it may also disclose the existence of problems it cannot explain.

Environment and Social Theory

Environment and Social Theory
Author: John Barry
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2007-01-24
Genre: Science
ISBN: 113418462X

Written in an engaging and accessible manner by one of the leading scholars in his field, Environment and Social Theory, completed revised and updated with two new chapters, is an indispensable guide to the way in which the environment and social theory relate to one another. This popular text outlines the complex interlinking of the environment, nature and social theory from ancient and pre-modern thinking to contemporary social theorizing. John Barry: examines the ways major religions such as Judaeo-Christianity have and continue to conceptualize the environment analyzes the way the non-human environment features in Western thinking from Marx and Darwin, to Freud and Horkheimer explores the relationship between gender and the environment, postmodernism and risk society schools of thought, and the contemporary ideology of orthodox economic thinking in social theorising about the environment. How humans value, use and think about the environment, is an increasingly central and important aspect of recent social theory. It has become clear that the present generation is faced with a series of unique environmental dilemmas, largely unprecedented in human history. With summary points, illustrative examples, glossary and further reading sections this invaluable resource will benefit anyone with an interest in environmentalism, politics, sociology, geography, development studies and environmental and ecological economics.

Social Theory and the Global Environment

Social Theory and the Global Environment
Author: Ted Benton
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2013-01-11
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1134833032

This book marks a watershed in the social sciences. The qualitative, critical perspective of sociology and allied disciplines challenges the technocentric `managerialism' which dominates environmental policy, its discourse and its impact. The authors explore the relationship between social theory and sustainability in an attempt to transend technical rhetoric and embrace a broader understanding of `nature'.

Society and Nature

Society and Nature
Author: Peter Dickens
Publisher: Temple University Press
Total Pages: 234
Release: 1992
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780877229681

In this wide-ranging effort to theorize about the relationships between society and nature, Peter Dickens attempts to reconstruct social theory in a way that enables it to speak to contemporary environmental issues. After reviewing existing sociological traditions, he draws on the early work of Karl Marx to suggest that processes and relations in the workplace are the main source of people's separation from nature. In addition, people's understanding of "nature" tends to mirror their experience of the social world. Redefining the work of Anthony Giddens in an ecological direction, Dickens analyzes developments in biological thinking that seem consistent with this approach. He considers the role of culture, and he critiques the contemporary "deep green" and "deep ecology" movements. Focusing on the alienation of human begins from the natural world and the place of nature in their "deep mental structures," the author works in part from a Marxist perspective but draws a wide variety of social psychological, and biological theories into the discussion. Society and Nature not only addresses a central debate in contemporary social science regarding this interrelationship but also responds to the intellectual challenge presented by natural scientific concepts of environmental problems that oversimplify or ignore their political or social relational dimensions. Author note: Peter Dickens is Senior Lecturer in Urban Studies and Social Policy at the University of Sussex (UK) and the author of Urban Sociology: Society, Locality and Human Nature.

Ideology, Social Theory, and the Environment

Ideology, Social Theory, and the Environment
Author: William D. Sunderlin
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2003
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780742519701

This book shows that polemical environmental and ecological debates are governed not so much by access to 'facts' as they are by the political ideology of the expert advancing a particular argument. Moreover, the thoughts of these experts tend to be based largely in just one of three competing streams of political thought: the left, the center, or the right. Drawing on social theory, the author explains the philosophical origins of this tendency to rely on just one of three traditions, and why this poses a serious obstacle to conceptualizing the cause, nature, and resolution of environmental problems.

Social Nature

Social Nature
Author: Noel Castree
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2001-11-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780631215684

This groundbreaking collection brings together for the first time diverse geographical work on the social construction of nature. Eleven leading contributors not only discuss social nature, but look at the concrete ways in which it is made and the political implications of its construction. Brings together for the first time diverse geographical work on the social construction of nature. Eleven leading contributors not only discuss social nature, but look at the concrete ways in which it is made and the political implications of its construction. Uses international case studies to illustrate the theoretical positions. A helpful introduction by the editors sets the chapters in context. Enables teachers and students to explore the ways in which social nature is evident and to engage with the direct implications of this for human lives, ecologies and politics.

Social Theory

Social Theory
Author: Mark Murphy
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2021-08-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3030783243

This textbook delivers a new thematic introduction to social theory that explores theoretical issues in their contemporary social contexts. Each chapter is devoted to a specific thematic area, including the state, governance, the economy, civil society, culture, language, knowledge, the self, emotions, the body, and social justice. Each chapter details the key issues for debate and the relevant theories while linking those debates and theories to everyday life. Distributed throughout the chapters are focused sections on key concepts and their research applications, alongside helpful additional detail including a glossary, further suggested readings, chapter summaries, and questions for discussion. The book also provides useful information on key theoretical movements such as feminism, Marxism, and post-structuralism, as well as biographies of key theorists. As such, it reflects the breadth of social theory and its interdisciplinary nature by drawing on thinkers not just from sociology, but also from philosophy, history, literature, geography, cultural and gender studies. The book’s logical structure and clear pedagogical features make it an appealing and accessible introductory text for students new to social theory. The chapters demonstrate the relevance of social theory to everyday life, such that readers can understand and actively engage with key concepts.

Modern Social Theory

Modern Social Theory
Author: Ian Craib
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2015-08-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317325273

The revised edition of this widely acclaimed textbook provides a clear, accessible and comprehensive introduction to modern social theory.As with the first edition, the book is based around the themes of structure and action. After the introductory chapters which examine the nature of theory and its role in the social world, the book then turns to theories of action and the inability of those theories to comprehend social structures in a coherent way.Part 1 covers: Parson's structural-functionalism and the development of conlict theory and neofunctionalism; rational choice theory; symbolic interactionism; ethnomethodology and structuration theory.Part 2 looks at structuralism, structuralist Marxism, and the development of post-structuralist and postmodernist theory.Part 3 examines Critical Theory and the work of Jurgen Habermas.In conclusion, Ian Craib discusses current trends in theory and what might be expected in the future.This second edition has been revised throughout. There are new chapters on rational choice theory and structuration theory and existing chapters have been extended to deal with the development of neofunctionalism, postmodernism and the recent works of Habermas as well as recent developments in other approaches.Throughout, the aim of the book is to demystify a diffcult subject area, emphasising the practical and everyday nature of theoretical thinking in the context of making sense of a rapidly changing world. The late Ian Craib was Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Essex.