Sociology and Nature: Social Action in Context

Cover
Half Title
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Preface
PART ONE SOCIAL ACTION ABSTRACTED FROM ITS CONTEXT
	1 Sociology as if Nature Did Not Matter: An Ecological Critique
		Pre-Ecological Sociology: Sociology as if Nature Did Not Matter
		An Ecological Critique of Sociology as if Nature Did Not Matter
		Why Was Sociology Constructed as if Nature Did Not Matter?
		Toward Sociology in Which Nature Matters
		Notes
	2 The Sociological Construction of Science Without Nature
		Nothing in Nature Gives Rise to Accounts of Nature?
		The Relativism of the Sociology of Science
		The Sociological Construction of the Social-Construction-of-Reality Premise
		The Focus on Local Contingencies
		The Double Standard of Constructivist Sociology
		The Constructivist Strategy of Ambiguity
		The Embeddedness of Scientific Constructions in Nature
		Notes
	3 Sociological Misunderstandings Concerning Nature
		The Blind Spot of Sociology
		The Human Body
		The Relativism of Science?
		Methodological Relativism
		The Weaknesses of Social Constructivism
		Social Scares or Material Scares
		Agency and Structured Systems
		Notes
PART TWO THE CONTEXT OF SOCIAL ACTION
	4 Weaknesses of Sociological Analyses of the Context of Social Action
		The Abolition of Nature and of Wilderness
		Nature Hidden in the Closet by Sociological Theory
		The 'Polluter-Pays' Principle
		The Burden of Proof
		Beyond Class?
		Marxist Environmentalism
		Notes
	5 Toward the Analysis of Social Action in Its Context
		Language and Experience
		Conceptions of Nature
		Sociology Beyond the Social Construction of Reality
		Technology as Human Constructions That Redeploy Nature
		A Structural Dynamic Advancing Human Agency
		The Delusions of Advanced Modernity
		Postmodernity or Hypermodernity?
		Notes
PART THREE THE RISK SPECIES
	6 Material Risks
		The Molecule That Scared Europe
		The Post-Antibiotic Era
		The Estrogenization of the Biosphere
		Genetic Manipulations
		Is Nature Developing a Resistance to Modernity?
		The Risk Species
		Types of Societal Relationships with Nature
		Notes
	7 Social Risks Resulting from the Manipulation of Nature
		The Risk of Economic Growth
		The Risk of Capitalism
		The Risk of Globalization
		The Risk of Technology-Driven Unemployment
		The Risk of Class Conflict
		The Risk of Conflict Between Generations
		The Human Population Explosion
		The Risk of Shallow Science
		Notes
PART FOUR TRANSFORMING RISK INTO OPPORTUNITY
	8 Political Economy
		The Opportunity to Stop the Social Construction of Pollution
		The Opportunity to Make Price Reflect Cost
		The Opportunity to Diminish Unemployment
		Notes
	9 Society and Culture
		The Opportunity for a More Accurate Conception of Science
		The Opportunity to Develop the Uniquely Human Capacity of Family Planning
		The Opportunity to Renew Democratic Institutions
		The Opportunity for a Cultural Renaissance
		The Opportunity to Diminish Inequality
		The Opportunity to Recouple Specialized Fields
		The Opportunity for Truly Interdisciplinary Research
		Risk or Opportunity?
		Notes
PART FIVE FURTHER ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL ACTION IN ITS CONTEXT
	10 Victims of the Monopolization of the Natural Environment
		Discourse Ethics and Animals
		Animal Rights
		Social Relations, Not Just Relations with Animals
		Monopolization by the Present Generation of Humans
		Usurping Monopolization and Replacing Closure with Openness
		Notes
	11 Parallels with Other Theories
		The Extent of the Hierarchical Relationship Between Humans and Nonhuman Species
		Undifferentiated Dominant Groups
		The Problematic Character of Theoretical Categories
		Relationships Among the Relations of Domination
		Misanthropes, Man-Haters, and Reverse Racists
		The Specificity of Each Critical Theory
		Notes
	12 Posthumanism
		Modern Humanism
		The Limitations of Modern Humanism
		A Preface to Posthumanism
		Posthumanism as Pro-Nature Humanism
		Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Book and Author