Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology Volume 1
- The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Part I Theory in Environmental Sociology
- Part II The Economy and Environmental Sociology
- 6 Material Worlds: Understanding the Relationship of Capital and Ecology
- 7 Green Economies and Community Wellbeing
- 8 Beyond the Limits to Growth: Neoliberal Natures and the Green Economy
- 9 The Ecosocialist Alternative
- 10 Commons, Power, and (Counter)Hegemony
- 11 Emplacing Sustainability in a Post-Capitalist World
- Part III Culture and Environmental Sociology
- Part IV Politics, Power, State
- Part V Social Justice
- Index
- References
6 - Material Worlds: Understanding the Relationship of Capital and Ecology
from Part II - The Economy and Environmental Sociology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2020
Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology Volume 1
- The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Part I Theory in Environmental Sociology
- Part II The Economy and Environmental Sociology
- 6 Material Worlds: Understanding the Relationship of Capital and Ecology
- 7 Green Economies and Community Wellbeing
- 8 Beyond the Limits to Growth: Neoliberal Natures and the Green Economy
- 9 The Ecosocialist Alternative
- 10 Commons, Power, and (Counter)Hegemony
- 11 Emplacing Sustainability in a Post-Capitalist World
- Part III Culture and Environmental Sociology
- Part IV Politics, Power, State
- Part V Social Justice
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter examines selected materialist frameworks that have guided research in environmental sociology over the last four decades. In doing so, we elaborate on approaches that have brought questions about the relationship between political-economic and ecological processes to the fore. We consider the significance of adopting a materialist orientation when conducting sociological research in relation to other more social constructionist-oriented approaches. The chapter provides a brief overview of some well-known theories in environmental sociology that fall broadly within a materialist framework and are strongly influenced by the Marxist tradition: treadmill of production, second contradiction of capitalism, social metabolism, critical human ecology, and tragedy of the commodity. These approaches have theorized on the ways in which capitalism, or the capital system, has played a major role in shaping particular kinds of socio-ecological processes.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology , pp. 95 - 106Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
References
Bennett, Jane. 2009. Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Berger, Peter L., and Luckmann, Thomas. 1966. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. New York: Penguin.Google Scholar
Bhaskar, Roy. 2014. The Possibility of Naturalism: A Philosophical Critique of the Contemporary Human Sciences. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Catton, William R. Jr. 1994. “Foundations of Human Ecology.” Sociological Perspectives 37: 75–95.Google Scholar
Davidson, Debra, and Andrews, Jeffrey. 2013. “Not All About Consumption.” Science 339: 1286–1287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dietz, Thomas, Ostrom, Elinor, and Stern, Paul P. C.. 2003. “The Struggle to Govern the Commons.” Science 302:1907–1912.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duncan, Otis Dudley. 1961. “From Social System to Ecosystem.” Sociological Inquiry 31:140–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunlap, Riley E., and Catton, William R., Jr. 1979. “Environmental Sociology.” Annual Review of Sociology 5:243–273.Google Scholar
Foster, John Bellamy. 2013. “Marx and the Rift in the Universal Metabolism of Nature.” Monthly Review 65:1.Google Scholar
Foster, John Bellamy. 2000. Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature. New York: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Foster, John Bellamy. 1999. “Marx’s Theory of Metabolic Rift: Classical Foundations for Environmental Sociology.” American Journal of Sociology 105:366–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, John Bellamy, Clark, Brett, and York, Richard. 2010. The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth. New York: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Fracchia, Joseph. 1991. “Marx’s Aufhebung of Philosophy and the Foundations of a Materialist Science of History.” History and Theory 30(2):153–179.Google Scholar
Fracchia, Joseph. 2004. “Beyond the Human–Nature Debate: Human Corporeal Organisation as the ‘First Fact’ of Historical Materialism.” Historical Materialism 13(1):33–61.Google Scholar
Gould, Kenneth A., Pellow, David N. and Schnaiberg, Allan. 2008. The Treadmill of Production: Injustice & Unsustainability in the Global Economy. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.Google Scholar
Longo, Stefano B. 2012. “Mediterranean Rift: Socio-Ecological Transformations in the Sicilian Bluefin Tuna Fishery.” Critical Sociology 38:417–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longo, Stefano B., and Clark, Brett. 2016. “An Ocean of Troubles: Advancing Marine Sociology.” Social Problems 63:463–479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longo, Stefano B., and Clausen, Rebecca. 2011. “The Tragedy of the Commodity: The Overexploitation of the Mediterranean Bluefin Tuna Fishery.” Organization & Environment 24:312–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longo, Stefano B., Clausen, Rebecca, and Clark, Brett. 2015. The Tragedy of the Commodity: Oceans. Fisheries, and Aquaculture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Marx, Karl. 1964. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. New York: International Publishers.Google Scholar
Mészáros, István. 2000. Beyond Capital: Toward a Theory of Transition. New York: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Mészáros, István. 2015. The Necessity of Social Control. New York: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
O’Connor, James. 1991. “On the Two Contradictions of Capitalism.” Capitalism, Nature, Socialism 2:107–109.Google Scholar
O’Connor, James R. 1998. Natural Causes: Essays in Ecological Marxism. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Ostrom, Elinor, Dietz, Thomas, Dolsak, Nives, et al. (eds.). 2002. The Drama of the Commons. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.Google Scholar
Rosa, Eugene A. 1998. “Metatheoretical Foundations for Post-Normal Risk.” Journal of Risk Research 1:15–44.Google Scholar
Salleh, Ariel. 2005. “Moving to an Embodied Materialism.” Capitalism Nature Socialism 16 (2):9–14.Google Scholar
Schnaiberg, Allan. 1980. The Environment: From Surplus to Scarcity. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schnaiberg, Allan, and Gould, Kenneth Alan. 1994. Environment and Society: The Enduring Conflict. New York: St. Martin’s Press.Google Scholar
York, Richard, and Clark, Brett. 2010. “Critical Materialism: Science, Technology, and Environmental Sustainability.” Sociological Inquiry 80:475–499.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
York, Richard, and Mancus, Philip. 2009. “Critical Human Ecology: Historical Materialism and Natural Laws.” Sociological Theory 27:122–149.Google Scholar