Sociology. Anthony Giddens
research will be vital factors in the quest for sustainable solutions in the emergent Anthropocene era.
1 What evidence is there against the idea of human exemptionalism? If human beings are part of the natural world, why do we need a distinct social science to study their actions and societies?
2 Using one example from the chapter, show what social constructionism brings to our understanding of the issue. Constructionism is often said to be agnostic towards the reality of environmental problems. How might this help or hinder our understanding of global warming?
3 In what ways do critical realist studies add something over and above social constructionist accounts? How could realism and constructionism be combined in environmental sociology?
4 What is a manufactured risk? Using examples from the chapter, compare manufactured with natural risks, bringing out their key differences.
5 What are the main arguments in favour of the genetic modification of food? Why have these products been routinely rejected in Europe?
6 Environmental campaigners called for governments around the world to declare a ‘climate emergency’ following the IPCC’s 2018 report on global warming. How can sociologists contribute to our understanding of climate change and the policies aimed at decarbonizing society?
7 What is the ‘treadmill of production and consumption’, and what are its main environmental consequences for a) developed countries and b) developing countries?
8 In what practical ways do sustainable development initiatives differ from mainstream economic development? Is the concept better suited to the industrialized countries than to developing ones?
9 What is meant by ‘ecological modernization’? Which aspects of this perspective are more likely to be adopted by governments and which are likely to be dismissed? Is ecological modernization essentially just a series of linked technological fixes?
10 How might the concept of environmental justice hinder attempts to tackle the ‘climate emergency’? Can people be expected to become good ecological citizens without a shift towards environmental justice?
People looking for new experiences in their leisure time often take holidays to places they have never been before. Some of these have been labelled forms of ecotourism – seeking out satisfying experiences that are close to nature or natural landscapes that are not available at home. Trips to see a natural ‘wilderness’, climb in the high mountains or see ‘wild’ animals in their natural environment have become quite common. But critics have questioned the sustainability of ecotourism, pointing to some of its negative environmental consequences, such as greenhouse gas emissions from flights and damage to the very environments that are valued caused by the accommodation blocks and modern facilities expected by tourists.
In recent years, a further form of ecotourism has been identified in which tourists seek out not a perceived wild nature but a natural world that is fast disappearing as a result of the global impact of climate change and increased biodiversity loss. This has been referred to as ‘Anthropocene tourism’. For example, people travel to witness first-hand the retreating glaciers, species on the brink of extinction, or low-lying islands threatened by rising sea levels. How can sociologists understand the development and attraction of this kind of disaster tourism experience? Read the paper below and answer the questions that follow.
Fletcher, R. (2019) ‘Ecotourism after Nature: Anthropocene Tourism as a New Capitalist “Fix”’, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 27(4): 522–35.
1 This paper is based on the analysis of secondary sources. How would you characterize the author’s theoretical position?
2 Explain the differences between the Anthropocene and the ‘Capitalocene’. What is meant by ‘disaster capitalism’?
3 List the main types of tourism discussed here and provide at least one example of each.
4 The author argues that capitalism has an extraordinary ability to renew itself through ‘creative destruction’. Discuss some of the ways this occurs in relation to Anthropocene tourism.
5 Thinking about the possible responses of tourists to their experiences, how might this form of tourism actually stimulate opposition to global capitalism?
Environmental issues are said to be ‘hybrids’ of nature and society, and it would seem obvious that interdisciplinary approaches, bringing together natural and social scientists, should offer a way forward. But why have such collaborations not routinely happened? Why do the social and natural sciences tend to go their separate ways? How are their research methods different? Do the social and natural sciences enjoy a similar or different status in society at large? Write a short essay exploring these questions and conclude with your own view of whether more interdisciplinarity is likely in future studies of environmental issues.
Chris Jordan’s artwork has been characterized as ‘environmental art’, which often specializes in creating artworks from the waste produced by mass consumer culture. For example, in Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption (2003–5), his images of piles of discarded mobile phones and chargers, computer circuit boards, diodes and e-waste illustrate the enormity of the e-waste problem but also display the strange beauty of the consumer waste on show. Take a look at this work and his other projects, especially Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait (2006–), from his website: www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/intolerable/#cellphones2.
Do some background research into the environmental art movement since the 1960s, noting how this genre has changed over time. Jordan’s photographic images are clearly not simple representations of nature but interventions in political debates around sustainability, consumerism and environmental activism. What do these images bring to our understanding of consumer culture and environmental sustainability? Why would the images not have the same power to disturb if they were taken at the production point of the objects rather than their endpoint? How might turning large piles of waste into beautiful art objects have the opposite of the desired effect and instead be assimilated into contemporary capitalist culture?
A good place to start is with Michael M. Bell and Loka Ashwood’s (2015) An Invitation to Environmental Sociology (5th edn, New York: Sage), which has lots of helpful examples to illustrate key environmental issues. Philip W. Sutton’s (2007) The Environment: A Sociological Introduction (Cambridge: Polity) sets out the key sociological themes for newcomers to this area. Sociological Theory and the Environment: Classical Foundations, Contemporary Insights (2002), edited by Riley E. Dunlap, Frederick H. Buttel, Peter Dickens and August Gijswijt (Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield), explores what the classics have