Sustainability and Environmental Sociology: Putting the Economy in its Place and Moving Toward an Integrative Socio-Ecology

Stefano B. Longo, Brett Clark, Thomas E. Shriver and Rebecca Clausen
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Stefano B. Longo: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Brett Clark: Department of Sociology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
Thomas E. Shriver: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Rebecca Clausen: Department of Sociology, Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO 81301, USA

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: The vague, yet undoubtedly desirable, notion of sustainability has been discussed and debated by many natural and social scientists. We argue that mainstream conceptions of sustainability, and the related concept of sustainable development, are mired in a “pre-analytic vision” that naturalizes capitalist social relations, closes off important questions regarding economic growth, and thus limits the potential for an integrative socio-ecological analysis. Theoretical and empirical research within environmental sociology provides key insights to overcome the aforementioned problems, whereby the social, historical, and environmental relationships associated with the tendencies and qualities of the dominant economic system are analyzed. We highlight how several environmental sociology perspectives—such as human ecology, the treadmill of production, and metabolic analysis—can serve as the basis for a more integrative socio-ecological conception and can help advance the field of sustainability science.

Keywords: economic development; growth; social theory; human ecology; treadmill of production; metabolic rift (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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