Sustainability and the Social Sciences

Egon Becker is Professor for Theory of Science and Sociology of Higher Education at the University of Frankfurt.

The eminent contributors to this volume explore the complex terrain of the interface between the social sciences and environmental research. Coming from a range of social science disciplines, they argue that environmental questions will increasingly dominate humanity in the course of the coming century. This reality holds out an opportunity, and indeed practical necessity, of stimulating important new lines of theoretical development within the social sciences as well as new forms of intellectual cooperation across them.

Exploring the application of the concept of sustainability in the social sciences, this book argues that environmental questions will increasingly dominate humanity in the 21st century. Implications for theoretical development and intellectual cooperation across the social sciences are examined.

1. Exploring Uncommon Ground: Sustainability as a Concept for the Social Sciences - Egon Becker, Thomas Jahn and Immanuel StiessPart I: Sustainability: Linking the 'Leitbild' to Emerging Fields of Knowledge2. Social Sustainability and Whole Development: Exploring Dimensions of Sustainable Development - Ignacy Sachs3. Sustainability and Territory: Meaningful Practices and Material Transformation - Henri Acselrad4. Sustainability and Sociology: Northern Preoccupations - Michael Redclift5. Sustainability, Sustainable Development and Gender: A View from a Feminist Perspective - Rosi Braidotti6. From Experience to Theory: Traditions of Social-Ecological Research in Modern India - Ramachandra Guha7. The Socio-Ecological Embeddedness of Economic Activity: The Emergence of a Transdisciplinary Field - Juan Martinez-AlierPart II: Towards Defining, Measuring and Achieving Sustainability: Analytical Approaches in the Social Sciences8. The Political Logic of Sustainability - Nazli Choucri9. Economic Concepts of Sustainability: Relocating Economic Activity within Society and Environment - John M Gowdy