Cover of Sociology and the Environment

Sociology and the Environment

"Can sociology help us to tackle the environmental problems? What can sociology tell us about the nature of the environment and about the origins and consequences of environmental risks, hazards and change? In this important new book, Alan Irwin maps out this emerging field of knowledge, teaching and research. He reviews the key sociological debates in the field and sets out a new framework for analysis and practice." "Among the themes examined are constructivism and realism, sustainable development and theories of the risk society. Readers are also introduced to communities at risk, institutional regulation and the environmental consequences of technology. Particular topics for discussion include genetically modified organisms, nuclear power, pesticide safety and the local hazards of the chemical industry. Rather than maintaining a fixed boundary between nature and society, Irwin highlights the hybrid character of environmental issues and emphasizes the role of social and cultural factors within environmental policy." "Combining theoretical discussion and case-studies with a sensitivity to the concerns of environmental policy and practice, Sociology and the Environment provides an excellent introduction to an expanding and immensely important field. It will be a valuable text for students and scholars in sociology, geography, environmental studies and related disciplines."—BOOK JACKET.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 224 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Sociology and the Environment? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Sociology and the Environment. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Environment in Anthropology (Second Edition): A Reader in Ecology, Culture, and Sustainable Living Shares human ecology, ecology, sociology
  2. Sustainability and health Shares human ecology, public policy, ecology
  3. Earth - our crowded spaceship Shares human ecology, ecology
  4. The Next One Hundred Years Shares ecology, environment

“If you want more of the same (sociology about environment), start with these.”

  1. The Clean Industrial Revolution: Growing Australian Prosperity in a Greenhouse Age
  2. Indigenous knowledge and the environment in Africa and North America
  3. The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a Paradigm Shift
  4. How Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate

“If it was the human ecology that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Man's mark on the land
  2. Birthright
  3. Patterned ground
  4. The solar system

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. First Along the River: A Brief History of the U.S. Environmental Movement
  2. Cities and nature
  3. Toxic Exposures: Contested Illnesses and the Environmental Health Movement
  4. Environmental health