Rural Sociology And The Environment

With increasing awareness of the limits that natural resource reserves and environmental concerns impose on economic growth, rural sociologists have developed new ways of looking at the relationship between man and his environment. This volume surveys changing sociological views of that relationship and explores a holistic, cooperative model of human/nature interaction that reflects the needs of the post-industrial age. In their introduction Field and Burch review significant landmarks in natural resource sociology and comment on some of the underlying aims of rural sociology. The remaining chapters focus on three distinct periods during which rural sociologists have sought to examine man's relationship and adaptation to the environment.

Nearly all of the major perspectives, focal points and debates in environmental sociology are reflected in this collection of essays. The volume exceeds the bounds of conventional theory by surveying societies and their natural biophysical environments.

Reinventing Rural is a collection of original research papers that examine the ways in which rural people and places are changing in the context of an urbanizing world. This includes exploring the role of the environment, the economy, and related issues such as tourism. While traditionally relying on primary sector work in agriculture, mining, natural resources, and the like, rural areas are finding new ways to sustain themselves. This involves a new emphasis on environmental protection, as one important strategy has been to capitalize on natural amenities to attract residents and tourists. Beyond improvements to the economy are general improvements to the quality-of-life in rural communities. Consistent with this, the volume focuses on the two cornerstones of education and health, considering current challenges and offering ideas for reinventing rural quality-of-life.

Environmental sociology: an introduction. Sociological theory and the natural environmental. Theory and the sociological study of the built environment. Socio-behavioral qualities of the built environmet. Macro-environments and people: cities, suburbs,a nd metropolitan areas. Designing the built environment. Rural environments and agriculture. Energy, society, and environment. Natural hazards and disastres. Technological hazards and disastres. Risk, technology, and society. Human dimensions of global environmental change. Social impact assessment and technololgy assessment. The environmental movement in the United States. Environmental concern: conceptual and measurement issues. Environmental sociology in nonacademic settings.

Environmental sociology attempts to elucidate the complex nature of human interactions with(in) nature, in the words of editors Redclift (international environmental policy, King's College, U. of London, UK) and Woodgate (environmental studies, Institute for the Study of the Americas, U. of London), who follow up on their earlier collection, The

This book synthesizes knowledge from several fields that are crucial to sustainable rural development: the physical environment, biological and agricultural production, rural sociology and economics. It takes a systems perspective incorporating systems analysis, landscape analysis and soil, water, and land planning. Directed toward graduate students and professionals, it provides a source of information and concepts for those concerned with land and water policies and practice. It presents an integrated approach using practical and applicable models and methods and takes a middle position between an elementary conceptual approach to land and water management and a highly mathematically advanced treatise based exclusively on system modeling. The book is based on almost twenty years of experience in teaching a course on rural planning and the environment, the authors being specialists from universities, research institutions and companies in Europe and North America.

Contains papers presented at the XII World Congress of Rural Sociology held in South Korea in 2008. This book provides an international view of the advanced production in rural sociology.