Title: Environmental sociology and sociology for sustainability, from a historical European perspective
Abstract: Sociology for sustainability is sociology that studies the social facts, organisational phenomena and changes of society, taking into account the conditions for their viability over time. It places a specific emphasis on the relationship between these social dimensions and the natural environment, as well as on the stability and introduction of novelty into the internal order of society. It is also concerned with interactions between these two types of restrictions. Sociology for sustainability is also known as "ecological sociology" and partially overlaps with environmental sociology. Its origins in the history of sociological thought date back to the 18th century and while its expressions and developments are common to all phases of industrial civilisation they have become especially prominent in the last three decades of the 20th century and the start of the 21st, a period that coincides with the formation of the ecologist movement and a growing social consciousness of the existence and severity of the ecological crisis. Its fundamental concern is whether there are natural limits to development and whether the effects of these limits can be avoided or overcome through techno-scientific innovations or adequate modifications to economic, political and sociocultural systems. This provides a means for classifying the various different approaches. Those such as ecological modernisation, sustainable development and the circular economy are characterised by a faith in technological innovation, together with minor reforms to existing institutions, in order to maintain development. The belief that the ecological crisis can only be overcome by combining scientific development and the abolition of neoliberal capitalism is characteristic of the various ecosocialist and eco-anarchist movements and certain ecofeminist ideas. The hope of a harmonious reintegration into nature to end the conflict between nature and society is shared by various philosophies that erroneously define themselves as ecocentric and is also expressed in certain versions of ecofeminism. Finally, the insistence that the finite nature of the planet creates dilemmas that cannot be resolved by technological development or political and economic changes is visible in the analytic schemas of bioeconomics and degrowth.
Publication Year: 2020
Publication Date: 2020-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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