This article argues against Catton and Dunlap’s claims that the natural environment has been ignored or downplayed in American sociology before the emergence of environmental sociology in the 1970s. By reviewing a collection of 86 sociology textbooks between 1894 and 1980, the article provides quantitative evidence regarding the scope and types of references to the natural environment in mainstream sociology. The bulk of the article is based on an interpretive-historical analysis of the different representations of the environment in the textbook literature. This analysis is carried out from the perspective of the sociology of knowledge, whereby sociological ideas about nature are interpreted in terms of their intellectual milieu and social context. The main finding is that the ‘natural environment’ has been interpreted in different ways and has been put to a variety of epistemological and ideological uses — particularly positivism and functionalism — throughout the history of the discipline.
Alexandrescu, F.M. ( 2003) ‘Biologizarea mediului social în ecologia umană a şcolii de la Chicago’ [The Naturalization of the Social Environment in the Chicago Human Ecology], Romanian SociologyI(1-2): 84-96.
2.
Alpert, H. ( 1953) ‘Review of Sociology: The Science of Society, byJ. Rumney and J. Maier’, Social Forces32(2): 195-6.
3.
Arnold, D. ( 1996) The Problem of Nature: Environment, Culture and European Expansion. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell .
4.
Babbie, E.A. ( 1980) Sociology: An Introduction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
5.
Barnes, H.E. ( 1958) An Introduction to the History of Sociology. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press .
6.
Barnes, H.E. and Ruedi, O.M. ( 1950) The American Way of Life: An Introduction to the Study of Contemporary Society. New York: Prentice-Hall.
7.
Barry, J. ( 1999) Environment and Social Theory. London and New York: Routledge .
8.
Barry, J. ( 2007) Environment and Social Theory, 2nd edn. London and New York: Routledge.
9.
Becker, H.S. ( 1966) ‘Introduction’, in C. R. Shaw, The Jack-roller: A Delinquent Boy’s Own Story . Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
10.
Becker, H.S. ( 2003) ‘Guest Editorial: Long-term Changes in the Character of the Sociological Discipline: a Short Note on the Length of Titles of Articles submitted to the "American Sociological Review" during the Year 2002’ , American Sociological Review68(3): iii-v.
11.
Berger, P.L. ( 1986) The Capitalist Revolution: Fifty Propositions about Prosperity, Equality and Liberty. New York: Basic Books.
12.
Bernard, L.L. ( 1922) ‘The Conditions of Social Progress’ , The American Journal of Sociology28(1): 21-48.
13.
Bernard, L.L. ( 1927) ‘The Individual and His Environment’ , in J. Davis and H. E. Barnes (eds) An Introduction to Sociology: A Behavioristic Study of American Society. Boston, MA and New York: D.C. Heath.
14.
Bernard, L.L. ( 1942) An Introduction to Sociology, a Naturalistic Account of Man’s Adjustment to His World. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.
15.
Bierstedt, R. ( 1957) The Social Order: An Introduction to Sociology . New York, Toronto, London: McGraw-Hill.
16.
Bierstedt, R. ( 1974) The Social Order: An Introduction to Sociology . New York, Toronto, London: McGraw-Hill.
17.
Biesanz, J. and Biesanz, M.H. ( 1969) Introduction to Sociology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
18.
Biesanz, M.H. and Biesanz, J. ( 1978) Introduction to Sociology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
19.
Bogardus, E.S. ( 1932) Introduction to Sociology. Los Angeles : Jesse Ray Miller.
20.
Buttel, F.H. ( 1978) ‘Environmental Sociology: A New Paradigm?’ , The American Sociologist13: 252-6.
21.
Buttel, F.H. ( 1996) ‘Environmental and Resource Sociology: Theoretical Issues and Opportunities for Synthesis’, Rural Sociology61(1): 56-76.
22.
Buttel, F.H. ( 2000) ‘Ecological Modernization as Social Theory’ , Geoforum31: 57-65.
23.
Carver, T.N. ( 1905) Sociology and Social Progress: A Handbook for Students of Sociology. Boston, MA: Ginn.
24.
Catton, R.W. and Dunlap, R.E. ( 1978) ‘Environmental Sociology: a New Paradigm’ , The American Sociologist13: 41-9.
25.
Chinoy, E. ( 1961) Society: An Introduction to Sociology. New York: Random House.
26.
Cohen, B. ( 1994) Interactions: Some Contacts between the Natural Sciences and the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press.
27.
Cooley, C.H. ( 1930) Sociological Theory and Social Research, with intro. and notes by Robert Cooley Angell. New York: Holt.
28.
Cotgrove, S. ( 1968) The Science of Society: An Introduction to Sociology . London: Allen & Unwin.
29.
Cotgrove, S. ( 1982) Catastrophe or Cornucopia: The Environment, Politics and the Future. Chichester, Brisbane and Singapore: John Wiley & Sons.
30.
Davis, J. and Barnes, H. E., eds (1927) An Introduction to Sociology: A Behavioristic Study of American Society. Boston, MA and New York: D.C. Heath.
31.
Davis, J. and Barnes, H. E., eds (1931) An Introduction to Sociology: A Behavioristic Study of American Society, rev. edn. Boston, MA and New York: D. C. Heath & Company.
32.
Dawson, C.A. and Gettys, W.E. ( 1948) An Introduction to Sociology. New York : Ronald Press.
33.
Dickens, P. ( 1992) Society and Nature: Towards a Green Social Theory . New York and London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
34.
Dow, G.S. ( 1920) Introduction to the Principles of Sociology. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press.
35.
Duncan, O.D. ( 1959) ‘Human Ecology and Population Studies’ , in P. M. Hauser and O. D. Duncan (eds) The Study of Population: An Inventory and Appraisal. Chicago, IL and London : University of Chicago Press, pp. 678-716.
36.
Duncan, O.D. ( 1964) ‘Social Organization and the Ecosystem’ , in R. Faris (ed.) Handbook of Modern Sociology. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally, pp. 36-82.
37.
Dunlap, R.E. ( 2002) ‘Paradigms, Theories and Environmental Sociology’ , in R. E. Dunlap, F. H. Buttel, P. Dickens and A. Gijswijt (eds) Sociological Theory and the Environment: Classical Foundations, Contemporary Insights. New York and Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 329-50.
38.
Dunlap, R.E. and Catton, W.R. ( 1979a) ‘Environmental Sociology’, Annual Review of Sociology5: 243-73.
39.
Dunlap, R.E. and Catton, W.R. ( 1979b) ‘Environmental Sociology: A Framework for Analysis’ , in T. O’Riordan and R. C. D’Arge (eds) Progress in Resource Management and Environmental Planning. New York and Toronto: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 57-85.
40.
Dunlap, R.E. and Catton, W.R. ( 1983) ‘What Environmental Sociologists have in common (whether concerned with "Built" or "Natural" Environments)’, Sociological Inquiry53: 113-35.
41.
Dunlap, R.E. and Catton, W.R., Jr ( 1994) ‘Struggling with Human Exemptionalism: The Rise, Decline and Revitalization of Environmental Sociology’, The American Sociologist21: 5-30.
42.
Ehrlich, P.R. and Holdren, J.P. ( 1970) ‘The People Problem’, Saturday Review53: 42-3.
43.
Eyerman, R., and Jamison, A. ( 1991) Social Movements: A Cognitive Approach. Cambridge: Polity Press.
44.
Fairbanks, A. ( 1901) Introduction to Sociology. New York, Chicago, IL and Boston, MA: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
45.
Faris, R. ( 1964) ‘The Discipline of Sociology’, in R. Faris (ed.) Handbook of Modern Sociology . Chicago, IL: Rand McNally, pp. 1-34.
46.
Findlay, J.J. ( 1920) An Introduction to Sociology for Social Workers and General Readers. Manchester: Manchester University Press; London and New York: Longman, Green.
47.
Fleming, J.R. ( 1998) Historical Perspectives on Climate Change. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
48.
Freedman, R., Hawley, A., Landecker, W.S., Lenski, G.E. and Miner, H.M. ( 1961) Principles of Sociology: A Text with Readings. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston .
49.
Freudenburg, W.R. and Gramling, R. ( 1989) ‘The Emergence of Environmental Sociology: Contributions by Riley E. Dunlap and William R. Catton’, Sociological Inquiry59(4): 439-52.
50.
Friedrichs, R.W. ( 1970) A Sociology of Sociology. New York and London: Free Press, Collier-Macmillan .
51.
Giddings, F.H. ( 1896) Principles of Sociology: An Analysis of the Phenomena of Association and of Social Organization. London and New York: Macmillan.
52.
Ginsberg, M. ( 1934) Sociology. London: Thornton Butterworth.
53.
Gouldner, A.W. ( 1970) The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology. New York and London: Basic Books .
54.
Gouldner, A.W. ( 1973) For Sociology: Renewal and Critique in Sociology Today . New York: Basic Books.
55.
Gouldner, A.W. ( 2001[1979]) ‘The Future of Intellectuals and the Rise of the New Class’, in D. B. Grusky (ed.) Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective. Boulder, CO and Cumnor Hill, Oxon: West View Press, pp. 817-30.
56.
Gouldner, A.W. and Gouldner, H.P. ( 1963) Modern Sociology: An Introduction to the Study of Human Interaction. NewYork and Burlingame , KS: Harcourt, Brace & World.
57.
Green, A.W. ( 1952) Sociology: An Analysis of Life in Modern Society . 1st edn. New York, Toronto and London: McGraw-Hill .
58.
Green, A.W. ( 1964) Sociology: An Analysis of Life in Modern Society , 4th edn. New York, Toronto and London: McGraw-Hill .
59.
Gross, M. ( 1999) ‘Early Environmental Sociology: American Classics and Their Reflections on Nature’, Humboldt Journal of Social Relations25(1): 1-29.
60.
Gross, M. ( 2000) ‘Classical Sociology and the Restoration of Nature: the Relevance of Émile Durkheim and Georg Simmel’ , Organization and Environment13(3): 277-91.
61.
Gross, M. ( 2002) ‘When Ecology and Sociology meet: The Contributions of Edward A. Ross’, Journal of the History of the Behavioural Sciences38(1): 27-42.
62.
Gross, M. ( 2004) ‘Human Geography and Ecological Sociology: The Unfolding of a Human Ecology, 1890 to 1930 - and beyond’, Social Science History28(4): 575-605.
63.
Gross, M. ( 2006) Natur. Bielefeld: Transcript.
64.
Groves, E.R. ( 1928) An Introduction to Sociology. New York , London and Toronto : Longman, Green.
65.
Hannigan, J. ( 2006) Environmental Sociology, 2nd edn. London and New York: Routledge.
66.
Hayes, E.C. ( 1918[1915]) Introduction to the Study of Sociology . New York and London : D. Appleton.
67.
Himes, J. ( 1968) The Study of Sociology: An Introduction, consulting ed. W. E. Moore.Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.
68.
Hinkle, R.C. ( 1980) Founding Theory of American Sociology 1881-1915 . Boston, MA and London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
69.
Hinkle, R.C. ( 1994) Developments in American Sociological Theory. Albany: State University of New York Press .
70.
Hofstadter, R. ( 1965) Social Darwinism in American Thought. New York: George Braziller.
71.
Horowitz, D. ( 1971) Radical Sociology: An Introduction. San Francisco, CA: Canfield Press.
72.
Horowitz, I. L. and Strong, M. S., eds, assisted by G.A. Talbot (1971) Sociological Realities: A Guide to the Study of Society. New York, San Francisco, CA and London: Harper & Row.
73.
Inkeles, A. ( 1964) What is Sociology? An Introduction to the Discipline and Profession. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
74.
Keith, B. and Ender, M.G. ( 2004) ‘The Sociological Core: Conceptual Patterns and Idiosyncrasies in the Structure and Content of Introductory Sociology Textbooks, 1940-2000’, Teaching Sociology32(1): 19-36.
75.
Klausner, S. ( 1971) On Man and His Environment: Social Scientific Foundations for Research and Policy. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
76.
Krogman, N.T. and Darlington, J.D. ( 1996) ‘Sociology and the Environment: An Analysis of Journal Coverage’, The American Sociologist27(3): 39-55.
77.
Landis, P.H. ( 1949) Man in Environment: An Introduction to Sociology . New York: Thomas Y. Crowell .
78.
Lange, H. ( 2002) ‘Social Science and Nature: a Review of Environmental Sociology in Germany’, Natures, Sciences, Sociétés: Recherches et débats interdisciplinaires10(3): 16-26.
79.
Lenski, G.E. ( 1970) Human Societies: A Macrolevel Introduction to Sociology . New York and Toronto: McGraw-Hill.
80.
Lewis, T.L. and Humphrey, C.R. ( 2005) ‘Sociology and the Environment: An Analysis of Coverage in Introductory Sociology Textbooks’, Teaching Sociology33: 154-69.
81.
Llewellyn, E. and Hawthorn, A. ( 1945) ‘Human Ecology’, in G. Gurvitch and W. E. Moore (eds) Twentieth Century Sociology. New York: Philosophical Library, pp. 466-99.
82.
Macnaghten, P. and Urry, J. ( 1998) Contested Natures. London and New Delhi: Sage Publications.
83.
Mannheim, K. ( 1953) Essays on Sociology and Social Psychology. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
84.
Matthews, F.H. ( 1977) Quest for an American Sociology: Robert E. Park and the Chicago School. Montreal and London : McGill-Queen’s University Press.
85.
McNall, S.G. ( 1971) The Sociological Experience: A Modern Introduction to Sociology. Boston, MA: Little Brown .
86.
Mead, E. and Mead, F. ( 1965) Man among Men: An Introduction to Sociology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
87.
Merrill, F.E. ( 1961) Society and Culture: An Introduction to Sociology . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall .
88.
Merrill, F.E. ( 1965) Society and Culture: An Introduction to Sociology , 3rd edn. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
89.
Merrill, F.E. and Eldredge, W.H. ( 1952) Culture and Society: An Introduction to Sociology . New York: Prentice-Hall.
90.
Merrill, F.E., with the assistance of W.H. Eldredge (1957) Culture and Society: An Introduction to Sociology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
91.
Morrison, D. ( 1973) ‘The Environmental Movement: Conflict Dynamics’ , Journal of Voluntary Action Research2: 74-85.
92.
Murray, R.W. ( 1939[1935]) Introductory Sociology. New York: F. S. Crofts.
93.
Nelson, L. ( 1969) Rural Sociology, Its Origin and Growth in the United States . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
94.
Ogburn, W.F. and Nimkoff, M.F. ( 1940) Sociology. Boston, MA andChicago, IL: Houghton Mifflin.
95.
Ogburn, W.F. and Nimkoff, M.F. ( 1964) A Handbook of Sociology. London : Routledge & Kegan Paul.
96.
Olsen, M.E., Lodwick, D.G. and Dunlap, R.E. ( 1992) Viewing the World Ecologically. Boulder, CO, San Francisco, CA and Oxford : Westview Press.
97.
Park, R.E. ( 1936) ‘Human Ecology’, The American Journal of Sociology42(1): 1-15.
98.
Park, R.E. ( 1952) Human Communities: The City and Human Ecology. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
99.
Park, R.E. and Burgess, E.W. ( 1969[1921]) Introduction to the Science of Sociology: including the Original Index to Basic Sociological Concepts . Chicago, IL and London: University of Chicago Press.
100.
Pendell, E. et al. [cooperating sociologists] ( 1942) Society under Analysis: An Introduction to Sociology. Lancaster, PA: Jaques Cattell Press.
101.
Perry, J. and Perry, E. ( 1973) The Social Web: An Introduction to Sociology. San Francisco, CA: Canfield Press.
102.
Platt, R.S. ( 1948) ‘Environmentalism versus Geography’ , The American Journal of Sociology53(5): 351-8.
103.
Raushenbush, W. ( 1979) Robert E. Park: Biography of a Sociologist. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
104.
Redclift, M. and Woodgate, G. ( 1994) ‘Sociology and the Environment: Discordant Discourse?’ , in M. Redclift and T. Benton (eds) Social Theory and the Global Environment. London and New York : Routledge, pp. 51-66.
105.
Reuter, E.B. ( 1941) Handbook of Sociology. New York : Dryden Press.
106.
Rose, A.M. ( 1956) Sociology: The Study of Human Relations. New York: Knopf.
107.
Ross, E.A. ( 1922) Principles of Sociology. New York: Century.
108.
Rossides, D.W. ( 1968) Society as a Functional Process: An Introduction to Sociology . Toronto: McGraw-Hill .
109.
Rostow, W.W. ( 1971) The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
110.
Rumney, J. ( 1938) The Science of Society: An Introduction to Sociology . London: Duckworth.
111.
Rumney, J. and Maier, J. ( 1953) The Science of Society: An Introduction to Sociology . London: Duckworth.
112.
Shelford, V.E. ( 1913) Animal Communities in Temperate America, as illustrated in the Chicago Region. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
113.
Small, A.W. ( 1925) General Sociology: An Exposition of the Main Development in Sociological Theory from Spencer to Ratzenhofer. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
114.
Small, A.W. and Vincent, G.E. ( 1894) An Introduction to the Study of Society. New York, Cincinnati, OH and Chicago, IL: American Book Co.
115.
Smelser, N. J., ed. (1967) Sociology: An Introduction. New York, London and Sydney: John Wiley & Sons.
116.
Sorokin, P. ( 1928) Contemporary Sociological Theories. New York and London: Harper & Brothers.
117.
Sorokin, P. ( 1929) ‘Some Contrasts of Contemporary European andAmerican Sociology’, Social Forces8(1): 57-62.
118.
Sorokin, P. ( 1964[1943]) Sociocultural Causality, Space, Time: A Study of Referential Principles of Sociology and Social Science. New York: Russell & Russell.
119.
Spencer, M., with editorial collaboration of A. Inkeles (1976) Foundations of Modern Sociology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
120.
Spencer, M., with editorial collaboration of A. Inkeles (1979) Foundations of Modern Sociology, 2nd edn. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
121.
St John, C. ( 1985) ‘Review of Sociological Human Ecology: Contemporary Issues and Applications’, Contemporary Sociology14(2): 200-1.
122.
Steinmetz, G. ( 2005) ‘Scientific Authority and the Transition to Post-Fordism: The Plausibility of Positivism in US Sociology since 1945’ , in G. Steinmetz (ed.) The Politics of Method in the Human Sciences: Positivism and Its Epistemological Others . Durham, NC: Duke University Press , pp. 275-323.
123.
Stewart, E.W. and Glynn, J.A. ( 1975) Introduction to Sociology. New York and Toronto: McGraw-Hill .
124.
Storer, N.W. ( 1973) Focus on Society: An Introduction to Sociology . Reading, MA and London: Addison-Wesley .
125.
Stuckenberg, J.H.W. ( 1898) Introduction to the Study of Sociology. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
126.
Thomas, F. ( 1925) The Environmental Basis of Society: A Study in the History of Sociological Theory. New York: Century.
127.
Thomson, J.A. ( 1911) Darwinism and Human Life: The South African Lectures for 1909. New York: Henry Holt; London: Andrew Melrose.
128.
Timasheff, N. and Facey, P.W. ( 1950) Sociology: An Introduction to Sociological Analysis . Milwaukee, WI: Bruce Publishing .
129.
Toby, J. ( 1971) Contemporary Society: An Introduction to Sociology . New York and London: John Wiley & Sons.
130.
Vernon, G. ( 1965) Human Interaction: An Introduction to Sociology . New York: Ronald Press.
131.
Weinstein, D. and Weinstein, M.A. ( 1974) Living Sociology: A Critical Introduction. New York: David McKay.
132.
Wells, H.G., Huxley, J. and Wells, G.P. ( 1934) The Science of Life. London and Sydney: Cassell.
133.
White Riley, M. ( 1960) ‘Membership of the American Sociological Association 1950-1959’, American Sociological Review25(6): 914-26.
134.
Wirth, L. ( 1945) ‘Human Ecology’, American Journal of Sociology50(6): 483-8.
135.
Yearley, S. ( 2005) Cultures of Environmentalism: Empirical Studies in Environmental Sociology. Basingstoke, Hants and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
136.
Young, R.M. ( 1981) ‘The Naturalization of Value Systems in the Human Sciences’, in Open University course unit for ‘Science and Belief: from Darwin to Einstein’, block VI, ‘Problems in the Biological and Human Sciences’. Milton Keynes, Bucks: Open University Press, pp. 63-110.
137.
Young. R.M. ( 1985) ‘Darwinism is Social’, in D. Kohn (ed.) The Darwinian Heritage. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press , pp. 609-38.
