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Social Ecology after Bookchin (Paperback)

by Andrew Light (Editor) "Murray Bookchin, originator of the doctrine known as "social ecology" and by any reckoning one of the principal figures of the ecological Left, poses an..." (more)
Key Phrases: environmental materialism, environmental materialists, environmental ontologists, Murray Bookchin, New York, Black Rose Books (more...)
2.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Frequently Bought Together

Social Ecology after Bookchin + Beyond Bookchin: Preface for a Future Social Ecology + Defending the Earth: A Dialogue Between Murray Bookchin and Dave Foreman
Price For All Three: $51.00

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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
-- Review

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


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.com Sales Rank: #976,167 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Murray Bookchin, originator of the doctrine known as "social ecology" and by any reckoning one of the principal figures of the ecological Left, poses an enigma to the critic. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
environmental materialism, environmental materialists, environmental ontologists, libertarian municipalism, rational ecological society, mass technics, divining evolution, dialectical feminism, environmental ontology, widest realm, radical agriculture, biosocial evolution, postscarcity society, dialectical naturalism, anarchist morality, lifestyle anarchism, liberatory technology, social ecology, remaking society, organismic philosophy, device paradigm, social ecological theory, social ecologists, ecological scarcity, ecology debate
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Murray Bookchin, New York, Black Rose Books, Modern Crisis, Post-Scarcity Anarchism, Andrew Light, John Clark, Rise of Urbanization, Thinking Ecologically, Dave Foreman, San Francisco, One-Dimensional Man, Frankfurt School, Peter Kropotkin, University of Chicago Press, Palo Alto, South End Press, Karl Marx, Revolutionary Pamphlets, United States, Arne Naess, Cheshire Books, David Macauley, Green Perspectives, Lewis Mumford
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32 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Largely hostile to Bookchin and social ecology., January 10, 1999
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?

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17 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars An extremely hostile collection of essays., January 23, 1999
By Peter Zegers (saverio@dds.nl) (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
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.
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13 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars dont waste your time, April 22, 2000
By A Customer
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. ...

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The Lyin' in Winter
This is the third book in print about Murray Bookchin -- the others are BEYOND BOOKCHIN and ANARCHY AFTER LEFTISM -- with the words "After" or "Beyond" in... Read more
Published on October 22, 2000 by Robert Black

4.0 out of 5 stars the most intelligent response to Bookchin yet published
Don't believe the vituperative bile of orthodox social ecologists on this book. The mere fact that they're so peeved means the book is good. Read more
Published on March 28, 1999 by David B. Rothenberg

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