Environmental Sociology: European Perspectives and Interdisciplinary Challenges

ISBN-13: 9789400799400 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 361 str.

Matthias Gross; Harald Heinrichs

Opis

Despite being a relatively young sub-discipline, European environmental sociology has changed considerably in the last decades towards more interdisciplinary collaborations and problem solving. Current trends such as global environmental modernization and processes of economic, political and socio-cultural globalization, fuelled by developments of transport, environmental flows, scientific uncertainty, and information technologies, have fostered new conceptual approaches that move beyond classical sociological mind-sets toward broader attempts to connect to other disciplines.

Spis treści

1. Introduction: New Trends and Interdisciplinarity Challenges in Environmental Sociology.- PART 1: Natural Flows and Global Environmental Discourse.- 2. Social Theories of Environmental Reform: Towards a Third Generation.- 3. The New Climate Change Discourse: A Challenge for Environmental Sociology.- 4. Earth System Governance and the Social Sciences.- 5. Ecological Regimes: Towards a Conceptual Integration of the Biophysical Environment into Social Theory.- PART II: Exploring Limits and New Possibilities for Understanding Environmental Rationalities.- 6. Understanding Responses to the Environmental and Ethical Aspects of Innovative Technologies: The Case of Synthetic Biology in Europe.- 7. Social Simulation: A Method to Investigate Environmental Change from a Social Science Perspective.- 8. Trust and Cooperation as Requirements for Maintaining Environmental Governance Capacity.- 9. Rational Choice Theory and the Environment: Variants, Applications, and New Trends.- 10. Environmental Knowledge and Deliberative Democracy.- PART III: Transdisciplinarity and Sustainable Development.- 11. Knowledge and Social Learning for Sustainable Development.- 12. Beyond Neocorporatism?! Transdisciplinary Case Studies as a Means for Collaborative Learning in Sustainable Development.- 13. Social Practices and Sustainable Consumption: Benefits and Limitations of a New Theoretical Approach.- 14. (Im)mobility and Environment-Society Relations: Arguments for and Against the ‘Mobilisation’ of Environmental Sociology.- PART IV: Ecological Adaptation Policies and Social Experimentation.- 15. Environmental Sustainability as Challenge for Media and Journalism.- 16. The Experimental Turn in Environmental Sociology: Pragmatism and New Forms of Governance.- 17. Risk, Society and Environmental Policy: Risk Governance in a Complex World.- 18. Climate Change and Society: Communicating Adaptation.- PART V: CodaChapter.- 19. Moving Ahead: Environmental Sociology’s Contribution to Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research.- Index.

O autorze

Dr. Harald Heinrichs ist Juniorprofessor für Sustainable Development and Participation am Institut für Umweltkommunikation der Universität Lüneburg. Dr. rer. soc. Matthias Groß arbeitet am Department für Stadt- und Umweltsoziologie im Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung (UFZ) in Leipzig. Zu seinen aktuellen Forschungsschwerpunkten gehören neben der Umweltsoziologie experimentelle Landschaftsgestaltungen sowie Wissenschafts- und Technikforschung.

Blurb

Despite being a relatively young sub-discipline, European environmental sociology has changed considerably in the last decades towards more interdisciplinary collaborations and problem solving. Current trends such as global environmental modernization and processes of economic, political and socio-cultural globalization, fuelled by developments of transport, environmental flows, scientific uncertainty, and information technologies, have fostered new conceptual approaches that move beyond classical sociological mind-sets toward broader attempts to connect to other disciplines.

Environmental Sociology is the first book to broaden the realm of environmental sociology by forging links to other environmental disciplines, such as environmental policy, media studies, geography, ecological economics, ecological modeling, or ecological design. The book's focus on current environment-related issues in interdisciplinary developments are not only of relevance for strengthening environmental sociology but will make it a great read for upper undergraduate and graduate courses in social sciences dealing with environmental topics