The Environment A Sociological Introduction

This book shows how sociologists have responded to the challenge of environmental issues such as global warming, ozone depletion, biodiversity loss and marine pollution. It also covers sociological ideas such as risk, interpretations of nature, environmental realism, and globalization. It assumes no specialist knowledge on the part of readers.

P.Sutton, Lecturer in Sociology, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen

Acknowledgements	p. vii
Preface	p. ix
Natural Environments	p. 1
Defining Nature and Environment	p. 1
Humans in Natural Environments	p. 7
Natural and Artificial Environments	p. 14
Conclusion	p. 16
Knowing the Environment	p. 18
Involvement and Detachment	p. 18
The Scientific Revolution	p. 22
Social Constructions of Nature	p. 26
Critical Realism	p. 32
Conclusion	p. 36
Experiencing the Environment	p. 38
An Environment of the Senses	p. 38
Experiencing Environments	p. 41
Ecological Identifications	p. 44
Ecological Citizenship	p. 52
Transforming the Environment	p. 55
Social Development and the Environment	p. 55
Industrialization	p. 59
Urbanization	p. 64
The Treadmill of Production and Consumption	p. 67
Polluting the Environment	p. 72
Types of Pollution	p. 72
Awareness and Significance of Pollution	p. 74
Sensitivity to Risks	p. 80
Conclusion	p. 88
Defending the Environment	p. 91
Changing Attitudes	p. 91
The Modern Origins of Nature Conservation	p. 95
The Development of Environmentalism	p. 99
Conclusion	p. 107
Politicizing the Environment	p. 109
A Politics of Nature	p. 109
Ecologism: A New Political Ideology	p. 113
The Emergence of Green Parties	p. 116
Conclusion	p. 124
Sustaining the Environment	p. 126
The Idea of Sustainable Development	p. 126
A Brief History of Sustainable Development	p. 130
Sustainable Development in Practice	p. 135
Can Societies Become Sustainable?	p. 139
Conclusion	p. 142
A Global Environment	p. 144
What is Globalization?	p. 144
The Biosphere as Environment	p. 148
Global Problems, Global Solutions?	p. 150
Conclusion	p. 161
Glossary	p. 164
References and Further Reading	p. 170
Index	p. 178
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The Environment A Sociological Introduction

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