Environment, Subsistence and System: The Ecology of Small-Scale Social Formations (Themes in the Social Sciences)

Roy Ellen

ISBN 10: 0521287030 / ISBN 13: 9780521287036

Published by Cambridge University Press, 1982

About this Item

Secure binding with clean pages and a cover fore-edge curl and corner crease. Size: 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall.

Seller Inventory # 111027514

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Environment, Subsistence and System: The Ecology of Small-Scale Social Formations (Themes in the Social Sciences)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 1982
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521287030
• ISBN 13: 9780521287036
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Book Type: Book

About this title

Synopsis

Human ecology is ultimately part of a general theory of society. This is the argument developed here by Roy Ellen, whose exploration of the interplay between social organization and ecology in small-scale subsistence systems has direct bearings both on the investigation of human environmental relations in general and on contemporary social theory. He argues that while ecological study of non-industrial societies cannot be elevated to the status of theory, domain or discipline, it can be represented as a single 'problematic' that historically has acquired some degree of autonomy and which continues to make a significant contribution to a wider anthropology. Dr Ellen introduces his subject matter through an extended and systematic discussion of some major frameworks developed within the last hundred years to examine and explain facets of the relationship between culture, social organization and the environment: determinism, possibilism, cultural ecology, systems theory and ideas derived from modern biology. He follows this with a detailed review and appraisal of important recent research involving the use of ecological models, methods and data. This original and innovative study of the pre-eminently social character of human ecological relations will be of considerable interest to all students and researchers concerned with understanding the nature of the relationship between human beings and their environments.

Book Description

This original and innovative study of the pre-eminently social character of human ecological relations will be of considerable interest to all students and researchers concerned with understanding the nature of the relationship between human beings and their environments.