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Shows how questions about the environment cannot be properly answered without taking a sociological approach. Provides a comprehensive guide to the ways in which sociologists have responded to the challenge of environmental issues as diverse as global warming, ozone depletion, biodiversity loss and marine pollution.
The Environment: A Sociological Introduction Acknowledgements Contents Introduction CHAPTER ONE Natural Environments 1. Defining Nature and Environment 2. Humans in Natural Environments 3. Natural and Artificial Environments 4. Conclusion CHAPTER TWO Knowing the Environment 1. Involvement and Detachment 2. The Scientific Revolution 3. Social Constructions of Nature 4. Critical Realism 5. Conclusion CHAPTER THREE Experiencing the Environment 1. An Environment of the Senses 2. Experiencing Environments 3. Ecological Identifications 4. Ecological Citizenship CHAPTER FOUR Transforming the Environment 1. Social Development and the Environment 2. Industrialization 3. Urbanization 4. The Treadmill of Production and Consumption CHAPTER FIVE Polluting the Environment 1. Types of Pollution 2. Awareness and Significance of Pollution 3. Sensitivity to Risks 4. Conclusion CHAPTER SIX Defending the Environment 1. Changing Attitudes 2. The Modern Origins of Nature Conservation 3. The Development of Environmentalism 4. Conclusion CHAPTER SEVEN Politicising the Environment 1. A Politics of Nature 2. Ecologism: A New Political Ideology 3. The Emergence of Green Parties 4. Conclusion CHAPTER EIGHT Sustaining the Environment 1. The Idea of Sustainable Development 2. A Brief History of Sustainable Development 3. Sustainable Development in Practice 4. Can Societies Become Sustainable? 5. Conclusion CHAPTER NINE A Global Environment? 1. What is Globalization? 2. The Biosphere as Environment 3. Global Problems, Global Solutions? 4. Conclusion Glossary Bibliography Index
P.Sutton, Lecturer in Sociology, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
Phillip Sutton has crafted a systematic and thorough introduction to the social science of the environment: its definition, transformation, politicization and defence. He expansively charts the emergence of the field and points to how global changes and politics will affect its future. This book will become a key resource for new students of environmental sociology and a point of engagement for future discussion. Hank Johnston, San Diego State University "Philip Sutton combines an excellent introduction to the sociology of the environment with an innovative approach to the field. A stimulating and wide-ranging text." Tim Newton, Exeter University "Written for undergraduate students, Philip Sutton's The Environment demands no prior knowledge of sociology. Remaining faithful to its subject matter, the book ranges freely across human and environmental sciences. Sutton rejects the "retreat into the present" that characterizes much contemporary sociology and frames environmental problems in relation to very long-term processes of human social development. This "sociological introduction" is challenging in all the right ways." Stephen Quilley, Keele University
