THE SOCIOLOGY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES: theoretical and empirical investigations

Autores: Leila da Costa Ferreira

This is a rich book, rich in insights, reflections, and agendas for future research. It focuses on the problem of global climate change in the Anthropocene at a variety of scales and on how different stakeholders are affected by these changes. It seeks to foster a dialogue between environmental sociology, social theory, sustainability science, and the sociology of climate change. This it does magnificently, and readers will find a rich array of interlinked ideas across these fields and superb analyses that most will find stimulating to their own research agendas. The book problematizes the nature of post-industrial risks, which are characterized by their global nature, the difficulty of knowing how to assess or respond to them, and by the apparent impossibility of calculating adequate compensation for damages. Part of the problem is the complexity of the environmental changes at global scale which defy accurate characterization, and obvious solutions. The other is the inadequacy of our traditional analytical tools in sociology and the social sciences to deal with these human and natural-induced transformations.