Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-kw2vx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T13:19:31.348Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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

By
Stefano B. Longo  and
Richard York
Edited by
Katharine Legun ,
Julie C. Keller ,
Michael Carolan  and
Michael M. Bell
Katharine Legun
Affiliation:
Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands
Julie C. Keller
Affiliation:
University of Rhode Island
Michael Carolan
Affiliation:
Colorado State University
Michael M. Bell
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Get access

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.

Keywords

materialismidealismsocial theorycapitalism
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology , pp. 95 - 106
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

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
Hardin, Garrett. 1968. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science 162:1243–1248.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
Marx, Karl. 1976. Capital, vol. 1. New York: Vintage.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
Tucker, Robert. 1978. The Marx-Engels Reader. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
York, Richard. 2017. “Why Petroleum Did Not Save the Whales.” Socius 3:1–13.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

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×