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Handbook of Environmental Sociology

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In this long awaited collection, Dunlap and Michelson have codified North American environmental sociology and present it as a legitimate and growing area of study. Environmental sociology in North America is only a quarter century old, but boasts hundreds of specialists, several scholarly journals, and a respected section within the American Sociological Association. With sixteen chapters and more than two-dozen contributors, this volume is both cohesive and comprehensive. The focus of various chapters includes: the built versus natural environment, the sociology of risk vis-à-vis natural and technological hazards, the globalization of environmental problems, and the environmental movement. The chapters, footnotes, and bibliography provide the reader with an impressive overview of the field. What environmental sociology contributes to the larger discipline is its unique willingness to consider the relationship between human society and non-social variables such as the built and natural environments. In that sense, environmental sociology represents a bold and major step forward in the discipline's reach and intellectual breadth.
This more holistic orientation to the study of society also requires that many environmental sociologists extend their vision beyond the parameters of sociology itself.This book will be essential reading for students of environmental sociology and for social and natural scientists interested in how we can best balance our emphases on both social and ecological "facts." Highly recommended.