The “End” or the “Humanization” of Nature?

Abstract

In the last decade, social scientific studies of the environment have increased greatly in number. But this growing interest has been accompanied by a narrowing of focus. Increasingly, sociologists have looked at claims and counterclaims about specific environmental problems while missing the broader question of the cultural and social origins of environmental concern. Only social anthropologists and some social theorists have continued to investigate this issue. In this article, it is argued that McKibben’s work offers a fresh basis for examining the meaning of environmental worries and that his writings offer a form of phenomenology of our concerns for nature. Such a phenomenology can make up the basis for future systematic sociological inquiries.