Table Of ContentNature, Environment and Society
SOCIOLOGY FOR A CHANGING WORLD
Series Editors: Graham Allan and Mary Maynard
Consultant Editor: Janet Finch
This series, published in conjunction with the British Sociology Association,
evaluates and reflects major developments in contemporary sociology. The books
focus on key changes in social and economic life in recent years and on the ways
in which the discipline of sociology has analysed those changes. The books reflect
the state of the art in contemporary British sociology, while at the same time
drawing upon comparative material to set debates in an international perspective.
Published
Graham Allan and Graham Crow, Families, Households and Society
Rosamund Billington, Annette Fitzsimons, Lenore Greensides and Sheelagh
Strawbridge, Culture and Society
Lois Bryson, Welfare and the State
Frances Heidensohn, Crime and Society
Stephen J. Hunt, Religion in Western Society
Mike Savage and Alan Warde, Urban Sociology, Capitalism and Modernity
John Solomos and Les Back, Racism and Society
Philip W. Sutton, Nature, Environment and Society
Andrew Webster, Science, Technology and Society
Forthcoming
Kevin Brehony and Rosemary Deem, Rethinking Sociologies of Education
Gordon Causer and Ray Norman, Work and Employment in Contemporary Society
Jörg Dürrschmidt and Graham Taylor, Globalisation, Modernity and Social Change
David Morgan, Men, Masculinities and Society
Julie Seymour, Social Research Methodology
NATURE, ENVIRONMENT
AND SOCIETY
Philip W. Sutton
© Philip W. Sutton 2004
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2004 978-0-333-99567-9
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as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2004 by
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DOI 10.1007/978-0-230-21244-2
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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For Derrick Sutton
A crazy, mother’s son who loved his life
Contents
List of Tables ix
Acknowledgements x
Introduction 1
Classical sociology and environmental issues 3
Overview and structure of the book 6
Breakdown of chapters 8
A note on terminology 12
1 Modern Ideas of Nature and Environment 13
The environmental revolution 15
Changing sensibilities and attitudes towards nature 19
Conclusion 27
2 The Development of Environmental Movements 28
Environmental movements as new social movements 29
The sociogenesis of environmentalism 35
Twentieth-century environmentalism 41
Green political parties 47
Globalising the environmental movement 51
Conclusion 52
3 Theorising the Social and the Natural 55
The social construction of environmental problems 56
Critical realism and the environment 64
Roads beyond the dualistic horizon 67
Conclusion 74
4 The Ecocentric Challenge for Society
and Sociology 76
Ecocentrism 76
Ecologism and political ideologies 83
vii
viii Contents
Environmental sociology 89
Conclusion 94
5 Living with Gaia: Deep Ecological
and Social Selves 97
Theories of ecological selves 98
Ecofeminism and nature 104
Sociological theories of social selves 109
Conclusion 112
6 Environmentalism in a Risk Society 115
Ulrich Beck’s risk society thesis 116
Risk and the politics of nature 122
Risk discourse and Green politics 127
Conclusion 129
7 Modernity as an Unfinished Ecological Project 133
Green consumption in capitalist societies 133
Global sustainable development 140
Modernising ecologically 145
Conclusion 152
8 Postmodernity, Poststructuralism
and Ecological Diversity 154
Poststructuralism and Postmodernism 155
Green politics as postmodern politics 159
Poststructuralist perspectives on environmentalism 163
Conclusion: what happened to nature? 169
9 Environment, Self and Society 173
Sociology and the ‘ecological turn’ 174
Nature, self and society – ‘the triad
of basic controls’ 176
Conclusion 183
Bibliography 185
Index 208
List of Tables
2.1 Formation of selected nineteenth-century
environmental organisations and groups 36
2.2 Formation of selected early twentieth-century
environmental organisations and groups 41
2.3 Formation of selected late twentieth-century
environmental organisations and groups 42
ix
Acknowledgements
First thanks must go to the editorial team at Palgrave Macmillan.
In particular, I would like to thank the Series Editors, Graham Allan
and Mary Maynard, for initiating and supporting this project.
Sincere thanks to Catherine Gray, who recognised the need for the
book in the first place and could not have been a more congenial
and effective editor. Thanks also to Beverley Tarquini for seeing
the book smoothly through the review and production process and
suggesting the final, more accurate, title. An anonymous reviewer
at Palgrave Macmillan made some extremely constructive comments
on the original proposal for which I am grateful and the anonymous
referee who read the completed manuscript also made some astute
suggestions. Both have, hopefully, contributed towards a more
cohesive and readable text.
The various attempts to bridge the divide between environmen-
tal issues and sociology take up a large part of the book. In this
regard, special thanks are due to Geert de Vries for a stimulating
discussion paper given at the ISA World Congress of Sociology,
Brisbane, in 2002, which strengthened my growing conviction that
a process sociological perspective might offer advantages over others
in bringing environmental issues closer to sociology and vice versa.
Richard Kilminster was also kind enough to read and comment
on an earlier version of Chapter 9 at a significant point in the process
of writing.
At Robert Gordon University, I am indebted to Julian Bell for
his creative manipulation of teaching timetables, without which the
book may never have seen the light of day. Who said Departmental
administration had to be dull?! I would also like to mention the
students on my Environment and Society course who listened to my
ramblings with forbearance and good humour, tackled a diverse
x
