Sustainability Through the Lens of Environmental Sociology

Sustainability Through the Lens of Environmental Sociology PDF Author:
Publisher: Mdpi AG
ISBN: 9783038426608
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
Our planet is undergoing radical environmental and social changes. Sustainability has now been put into question by, for example, our consumption patterns, loss of biodiversity, depletion of resources, and exploitative power relations. With apparent ecological and social limits to globalization and development, current levels of consumption are unsustainable, inequitable, and inaccessible to the majority of humans. Understanding and attaining sustainability is a crucial matter at a time when our planet is in peril--environmentally, economically, socially, and politically. Since its official inception in the 1970s, environmental sociology has provided a powerful lens to understanding the challenges, possibilities and modes of sustainability. Most chapters in this book were published as peer-reviewed articles in Sustainability in its special issue "Sustainability through the Lens of Environmental Sociology," providing an environmental sociology approach to understanding and achieving the widely used notion of "sustainability." This edited collection covers, among other topics, the inherent discursive formations of environmental sociology, conceptual tools and paradoxes, competing theories and practices, and their complex implications on our society at large. Chapters in this book specifically focus on how sustainable development has been understood through different theoretical lenses in environmental sociology, such as ecological modernization, policy/reformist sustainable development, and critical structural approaches (such as the treadmill of production, ecological Marxism, metabolic rift theory, etc.); and how sustainable development has been practiced in, or by, various stakeholders, such as states, corporations, and local communities, for various ends, through the use of specific case studies, showing, for example, the discursive shifts, dynamic formations, and diverse contours of sustainable development. The range of relevant topics includes: - Environmental sociology as a field of inquiry for sustainability - Historical context of sustainable development in environmental sociology - Nature-society relationship in environmental sociology - Theories/approaches to sustainability discourse in environmental sociology - Environmentalism/environmental movements for sustainability - Empirical cases (such as climate change, biodiversity, food, certification, etc.) through the lens of environmental sociology

Social Theory and the Global Environment

Social Theory and the Global Environment PDF Author: Ted Benton
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134833032
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
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'.

Perspectives for a New Social Theory of Sustainability

Perspectives for a New Social Theory of Sustainability PDF Author: Mariella Nocenzi
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030331733
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 133

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Book Description
This ambitious book outlines the theoretical and practical implications of the recent technological revolution of human/non-human relations for social researchers, and in so doing, seeks to develop more adequate theoretical and methodological models for social scientists to describe and investigate these social transformations and their consequences. The environmental strategies to balance human actions with the earth’s resources utilizing a sustainable approach can inspire original conceptualizations and, therefore, a new sociological paradigm rooted in a necessary rethinking of the dualism between nature and culture, and of human relations in a hyper-connected society increasingly composed by non-human elements. Chapter discussions include: Sustainability and the crisis of the theoretical functional model Environmental sustainability and the evolution of capitalism From moral imperatives to indicators and indices: a methodology for validating and assessing SDGs An understanding of psychopathological syndromes related to social environments Social research between participation and critical detachment Perspectives for a New Social Theory of Sustainability emphasizes that not only are modernist theories of unlimited wealth and progress no longer supportable, but also that their theoretical and empirical settings must be reassessed if society is to move towards sustainability. It promises to be required reading for students and researchers in sociology, psychology, economics and statistics, as well as professionals within government organizations and NGOs focused on human rights work, global inequities, ethical activism, and the UN Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals. "This book provides a unique toolkit for politicians and citizens on sustainable development and how it is fulfilled every day." David Maria SASSOLI European Parliament President

Environmental Sociology

Environmental Sociology PDF Author: Cristiano Luis Lenzi
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666911518
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
Environmental Sociology: Risk and Sustainability in Modernity examines the encounter between sociology and contemporary environmental issues. It presents the proposal for an environmental sociology considering the dilemmas surrounding sustainable development, ecological modernization, and risk society. In this book, Cristiano Luis Lenzi critically examines these concepts, aiming to show how controversial environmental sociology still is. The book offers a nuanced interpretation of some of the issues and disputes that arise in the debate over these approaches in the sociological literature.

Emergent Possibilities for Global Sustainability

Emergent Possibilities for Global Sustainability PDF Author: Phoebe Godfrey
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317570170
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
It must be acknowledged that any solutions to anthropogenic Global Climate Change (GCC) are interdependent and ultimately inseparable from both its causes and consequences. As a result, limited analyses must be abandoned in favour of intersectional theories and practices. Emergent Possibilities for Global Sustainability is an interdisciplinary collection which addresses global climate change and sustainability by engaging with the issues of race, gender, and class through an intersectional lens. The book challenges readers to foster new theoretical and practical linkages and to think beyond the traditional, and oftentimes reductionist, environmental science frame by examining issues within their turbulent political, cultural and personal landscapes. Through a variety of media and writing styles, this collection is unique in its presentation of a complex and integrated analysis of global climate change and its implications. Its companion book, Systemic Crises of Global Climate Change, addresses the social and ecological urgency surrounding climate change and the need to use intersectionality in both theory and practice. This book is a valuable resource for academics, researchers and both undergraduate and post-graduate students in the areas of Environmental Studies, Climate Change, Gender Studies and International studies as well as those seeking a more intersectional analysis of GCC.

Everyday Life-Environmentalism

Everyday Life-Environmentalism PDF Author: Daisaku Yamamoto
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1003829252
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
This book provides one of the first systematic introductions to the Japanese concept of life-environmentalism, Seikatsu-Kankyo Shugi. This concept emerged in the 1980s as a shared research framework among Japanese social scientists studying the adverse consequences of postwar industrialization on everyday life in communities. Life-environmentalism offers a lens through which the agency of small communities in sustaining their everyday life and living environment can be understood. The book provides an overview of this approach, including intellectual backgrounds and foundational concepts, along with a variety of empirical case studies that examine environmental and sustainability issues in Japan and other parts of Asia. It also includes critical reflections on the approach in light of contemporary sustainability challenges. The empirical topics covered in the book include local community responses to development projects, resource governance, disaster response and recovery, and historical environmental preservation. The chapters are contributed by researchers working at the forefront of the field. It provides only a glimpse into the vast literature that awaits further exploration and engagement in the future. The book is suitable for upper undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers interested in environmental problems, sustainability and resilience, disaster mitigation and response, and regional development in Asian contexts, particularly Japan. It is well-suited for courses in anthropology, geography, sociology, urban and regional planning, political science, Asian studies, and environmental studies.

Environmental Sociology and Social Transformation

Environmental Sociology and Social Transformation PDF Author: Magnus Boström
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040030408
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Environmental Sociology and Social Transformation demonstrates how sociological theory and research are critical for understanding the social drivers of global environmental destruction and the conditions for transformative change. Written by two professors of sociology who are deeply involved in the international community of environmental sociology, Magnus Boström and Rolf Lidskog argue that we need to better understand society as well as the fundamentally social nature of environmental problems and how they can be addressed. The authors provide answers to why so many unsustainable practices are maintained and supported by institutions and actors despite widespread knowledge of their negative consequences. Employing a pluralistic sociological approach to the study of social transformations, the book is divided into five key themes: Causes, Distributions, Understandings, Barriers, and Transformation. Overall, the book offers an integrative and comprehensive understanding of the social dimension of (un)sustainability, societal inertia, and conditions for transformative change. It provides the reader with references from classic and contemporary sociology and uses pedagogical features including boxes and questions for discussion to help embed learning. Arguing that a broad and deep social transformation is needed to avoid a global civilization crisis, Environmental Sociology and Social Transformation will be a great resource for students and scholars who are exploring current environmental challenges and the societal conditions for meeting them.

Social Practices, Intervention and Sustainability

Social Practices, Intervention and Sustainability PDF Author: Yolande Strengers
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317810791
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
In an era of dramatic environmental change, social change is desperately needed to curb burgeoning consumption. Many calls to action have focused on individual behaviour or technological innovation, with relative silence from the social sciences on other modes and methods of intervening in social life. This book shows how we can go beyond behaviour change in the pursuit of sustainability. Inspired by the ‘practice turn’ in consumption studies, this interdisciplinary book looks through the lens of social practice theory to explore important and timely questions about how to intervene in social life. It discusses a range of applied sustainability topics including energy consumption, housing provision, water demand, transport, climate change, curbside recycling and smart grids, seeking to redefine what intervention is, how it happens, and who or what can intervene to address the growing list of environmental calamities facing contemporary societies. These issues are explored through a range of specific case studies from Australia, the UK and the US, providing theoretical insights that are of international relevance. The book will be of interest to researchers and students in the fields of sociology, consumption studies, environmental studies, geography, and science and technology studies, as well as policy makers and practitioners seeking to intervene in social life for sustainability.

Environmental Sociology

Environmental Sociology PDF Author: Michael D. Mehta
Publisher: Captus Press
ISBN: 9781895712803
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description


Sustainability and the Social Sciences

Sustainability and the Social Sciences PDF Author: Egon Becker
Publisher: Zed Books
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
Exploring how the concept of sustainability might be applied in each of the social sciences, this book argues that environmental questions will increasingly dominate humanity in the course of the 21st century. This holds out the opportunity, and practical necessity, to stimulate new lines of theoretical development within the social sciences and new forms of intellectual cooperation across them.