Social Ecology after Bookchin [Paperback]

Andrew Light (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1572303794 | ISBN-13: 978-1572303799 | Publication Date: October 26, 1998 | Edition: 1

For close to four decades, Murray Bookchin's eco-anarchist theory of social ecology has inspired philosophers and activists working to link environmental concerns with the desire for a free and egalitarian society. New veins of social ecology are now emerging, both extending and challenging Bookchin's ideas. For this instructive book, Andrew Light has assembled leading theorists to contemplate the next steps in the development of social ecology. Topics covered include reassessing ecological ethics, combining social ecology and feminism, building
decentralized communities, evaluating new technology, relating theory to activism, and improving social ecology through interaction with other left traditions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Andrew Light has assembled an intelligent and imaginative collection of essays that explore, from a multiplicity of viewpoints, the implications of Bookchin's pioneering work on social ecology. This book offers searching appraisals of Bookchin's work and enlightened modifications of his central arguments. It furnishes the reader with a mature representation of green political and social thought, providing a challenging insight into the complexity of green political thought and its interconnections with influential radical ideologies of the 20th century. This is an important and thought-provoking book on one of the most controversial thinkers in the ecological tradition." --Michael Freeden, Professor of Politics, Mansfield College, Oxford University, Oxford, UK

"Murray Bookchin has defended his idea of social ecology against opponents real and imagined for over 30 years. The vigor of this defense has sometimes left even sympathizers wondering how much space there is for dissent, and for the development of his seminal work. This admirably edited volume is in the best tradition of critical appreciation--slavish imitation is passed over in favor of constructive engagement. The result is an indispensable book that shows that Bookchin needs his critics." --Andrew Dobson, Senior Lecturer in Politics, Keele University, Keele, UK

"Debate, dialogue, or denunciation--Bookchin's strategies for articulating social ecology have alienated many listeners. But social ecology's utopian vision of an ecological society, and its concepts of citizenship, democracy, freedom, and unity-in-diversity, are greater than a single man. By distinguishing the man from the theory, Light's volume reveals the lasting impact of social ecology on successive generations of radical ecologists." --Greta Gaard, Fairhaven College, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington; author of Ecological Politics: Ecofeminists and the Greens

From the Back Cover

Intelligent and imaginative....These essays offer searching appraisals of Bookchin's work and enlightened modifications of his central arguments. The book furnishes the reader with a mature representation of green political and social thought. It provides a challenging insight into the complexity of green political thought and its interconnections with influential radical ideologies of the 20th century. This is an important and thought-provoking book on one of the most controversial thinkers in the ecological tradition (Michael Freeden, Professor of Politics, Mansfield College, Oxford University, Oxford, UK).

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 401 pages
• Publisher: The Guilford Press; 1 edition (October 26, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572303794
• ISBN-13: 978-1572303799
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,368,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Largely hostile to Bookchin and social ecology., January 10, 1999

By 

Janet Biehl ([e-mail]) (Burlington, Vermont) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Social Ecology after Bookchin (Paperback)

The title "Social Ecology After Bookchin" suggests that the essays in this book build on the left-libertarian political philosophy that Bookchin formulated under the name social ecology starting in the 1960s, and which has since gained an international reputation. But these essays do no such thing. Most of them are written by critics of social ecology and by those who wish to remake social ecology according to their own political beliefs. Not surprisingly, in this era when the entire political spectrum has shifted to the right, those beliefs are generally more conservative than Bookchin's. For example, where Bookchin's social ecology is explicitly libertarian-communist, antistatist, secular, and social-revolutionary, some of these authors look with favor on economic enterprise, the state, mysticism/spirituality, and reformism. The creation of the book appears to have been motivated by hostility to Bookchin, yet ironically a great part of its sales will probably result from the fact that the title contains the name "Murray Bookchin."

The anthology is part of a Guilford series whose overall editor, James O'Connor, is a Marxist and hence politically antipathetic to Bookchin's left-libertarian ideas. Nor are many of the others invovled in the book social ecologists at all. To be sure, John Clark and David Watson call themselves social ecologists at present, but they are determined to "reformulate" social ecology in the mystical terms they prefer. But others do not even claim to be social ecologists. The editor, Andrew Light, is an avowed democratic socialist, while among the contributors, the "ecocentric" Robyn Eckersley is far closer to deep ecology, and Joel Kovel and (to all appearances) Alan Rudy are Marxists. Tellingly, no one who teaches, alongside Bookchin, at the Institute for Social Ecology in Vermont contributed an essay to this book.

Nor do the essays, taken together, constitute a coherent critique of Bookchin's social ecology. Some, for example, criticize him for being a Marxist, while others criticism for his libertarianism. Many of the essays are greatly ad hominem, concerned at least as much with Bookchin's personal manners and habits, and with his supposed (but nonexistent) claim to "possess" social ecology, as they are with the content of his ideas. One essay, by a psychiatrist, even psychoanalyzes Bookchin, concluding that he has a "Messiah complex." This level of discussion could not be much lower.

I live with Bookchin, so I know the following story is true. In 1995-96 when Bookchin learned that this project was under way, he contacted Guilford, asking to be given the opportunity to write an essay in response to the criticisms, for inclusion at the end of the book. (This is a courtesy commonly extended to individuals who are subjects of critical anthologies while they are still alive.) Editor Andrew Light held a referendum among the contributors: Should Bookchin be permitted to respond to them? Their majority reply was no, he should not. What were they afraid of?

18 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An extremely hostile collection of essays., January 23, 1999

By 

Peter Zegers ([e-mail]) (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Social Ecology after Bookchin (Paperback)

The book is a strange collection of essays, mostly written by people extremely hostile to their subject. There's not even a common thread in the book. The claim of the editor that this collection could be considered a 'tribute' to Bookchin is absurd.

14 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars dont waste your time, April 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Social Ecology after Bookchin (Paperback)

I read this after reading Bookchins Anarchism, Marxism, and theFuture of the Left.

If you must read this book, please do yourself afavor and read some of Bookchins work also. ...