Yanitsky, Oleg. N. Remarks and comments on the book: Social Ecology: Society-Nature relations across Time and Space. Haberl H., Fisher-Kowalski M., Krausmann F. and Winiwater V., eds. 2016. Geneva: Springer International Publishing. 610 pp. Official Portal Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2017. P. 1-9. URL: http: ...

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Abstract

The article is not simply a review. Its aim is to combine my reflections on the above book content with my own viewpoints and suggestions related to this rather acute global issue. I consider this book as an encyclopedia of views and concepts on man-nature relationships that cannot be reduced to a single conceptual framework. Then, having restricted my comments on the society-nature relations by the changes generated by the Fourth industrial revolution, I revealed that this aspect is nearly absent in the book under review. Namely, a cluster of key theoretical instruments (such as biophysical elements, colonizing interventions, metabolism, hybrid, eco-social system, etc.) used by the authors are not adapted or reinterpreted according to the new conditions. The very term of globalization as a process has been mentioned only once (p. 240). The book only partly resembles two adversarial trends peculiar to science-practice relationships in a globalized world. On the one hand, our world is becoming more individualized and conflicting. In relation to the subject matter of the book, it means that a majority of the 35 (!) its contributors have their specific view on the issue in question. On the other hand, in order to win in such competitive geopolitical milieu the scientists, people and organizations are forced to practice interdisciplinary researches and related forms of public activity aimed at producing more public goods, but less risks. To my mind, the relationships of war and peace are again returning to the first lines of the global agenda.

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