Theories of Social Ecology

Antara Chakrabarty
UGC NTA-NET Sociology
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 Social Ecology
• What is Social Ecology?
• Founded by activist Murray Bookchin, social ecology is an
approach to society that embraces a ecological,
reconstructive, and communitarian view on society.
• This ideology looks to reconstruct and transform current
outlooks on both social issues and environmental factors
while promoting direct democracy.
• In short, democracy is not possible without harmony in
environment.
• It looks to do away with scarcity and hierarchy in the
economy in favor of a world in which human communities
work together in harmony with nature to accept and
promote diversity as well as creativity and freedom.
• This ideology is, according to the approach, viewed as a root
cause of environmental problems.
• Rather than being looked on as a hierarchy, life and the
environment should instead be looked on as a complex
system in which all lifeforms are interrelated and of equal
importance to a healthy and sustainable environment.
• While developing his theories, Murray Bookchin wrote
foundation works such as Post-Scarcity Anarchism, Toward
an Ecological Society, and The Ecology of Freedom.
• Though he identified as an anarchist for much of his life,
Bookchin eventually would begin to criticize anarchy in favor
of a "libertarian socialism" framed in the context of a
political ideology he would refer to as "Communalism".
Human Ecology
• Human ecology, man’s collective interaction with his
environment. Influenced by the work of biologists on the
interaction of organisms within their environments, social
scientists undertook to study human groups in a similar way.
• Thus, ecology in the social sciences is the study of the ways
in which the social structure adapts to the quality of natural
resources and to the existence of other human groups.
• When this study is limited to the development and
variation of cultural properties, it is called cultural ecology.
India
• Radhakamal Mukerjee’s contribution to the studies of what
is called ‘social ecology’ is unparalleled. Social ecology, as a
discipline, requires the cooperation of a member of sciences
including social sciences.
• The geological, geographical and biological factors work
together to produce an ecological zone. Ecological conditions
also conditioned by social, economic and political factors.
Indeed, human or social ecology is the study of all aspects of
reciprocal relations between man and his environment.
• In his book, Regional Sociology (1926), Mukerjee explains the scope of
human ecology “as a synoptic study of the balance of plant, animal and
human communities, which are systems of correlated working parts in
the organization of the region”.
• Mukerjee’s ideas about social ecology advocated regional
development.
• He stood for a balance between economic growth and ecological
fitness. Traditional crafts and skills like weaving or engraving should be
revamped for attaining economic growth of a region without any great
damage to its ecology. Deforestation has created havoc.
• Long back Mukerjee cautioned his countrymen against it. He strongly
advocated for conservation of forests and protection of ecological
balance.
• Mindless urbanization was also lamented by Mukerjee. From
the ecological point of view he upheld the idea and process of
urbanization. Urban development at the expense of the
countryside should be kept in check. Agriculture should be
diversified and industries should be decentralized.
• Mukerjee notices with concern that (i) overgrazing, (ii)
improvident destruction of trees and scrubs, and (iii) faulty
method of cultivation brings about a serious imbalance in the
biophysical constitution of the entire region. It seriously
impairs nature’s cycle.
• Social Ecology (book by Ramchandra Guha) brings together a
selection of pioneering essays on a subject of increasing interest to
sociologists and social anthropologists.
• With the growing awareness of the causes and consequences of
environmental degradation, the once neglected field of 'social
ecology' has assumed enormous theoretical and practical import.
• Guha argues in favor of creating an “environmentally oriented
sociology” and suggests that the inclusion of “ecological
infrastructure” at the base of the four existing broad categories of
sociologists' “model of society”-- economy, social structure, polity,
and culture, arranged in a pyramidal fashion
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ANTARA.CHAK23
ANTARALIVE