Perseus Academic: Sociology and Nature by Raymond Murphy

Sociology as if nature did not matter has been the sociological expression of modern societies negligent of the processes of nature. In response to this ecological blindness, Raymond Murphy examines the limitations of sociology that have resulted from this neglect.Humanity's success in manipulating nature destabilizes the natural support system of society on a planetary scale and, in turn, destabilizes all of society's institutions. Because the manipulation of nature has become so central to modern society, society, Murphy argues, can now be understood only in terms of the interaction between social action and the processes of nature. The growing awareness that social constructions unleash dynamic processes of nature — processes beyond human control that bear on social action — has the potential of radically transforming sociology. Sociology and Nature proposes the reconstruction of sociology in which nature does matters, developing a novel sociological approach that situates social action in its natural context.

Raymond Murphy is professor of sociology at the University of Ottawa, Canada. He is author of Rationality and Nature: A Sociological Inquiry into a Changing Relationship (WestviewPress 1994).