Contested Natures (Published in association with Theory, Culture & Society) - Hardcover

Macnaghten, Phil; Urry, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0761953124 ISBN 13: 9780761953128

Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd, 1998

Synopsis

Demonstrating that all notions of nature are inextricably entangled in different forms of social life, the text elaborates the many ways in which the apparently natural world has been produced from within particular social practices. These are analyzed in terms of different senses, different times and the production of distinct spaces, including the local, the national and the global.

The authors emphasize the importance of cultural understandings of the physical world, highlighting the ways in which these have been routinely misunderstood by academic and policy discourses. They show that popular conceptions of, and attitudes to, nature are often contradictory and that there are no simple ways of prevailing upon people to `

About this title

About the Author:

Phil Macnaghten is a human geographer with broad interests in the governance of science and technology, responsible innovation, the sociology of the environment, deliberative methodology and discourse analysis. His early research focused on the cultural dimensions of environmental policy and their intersection with everyday practice. He developed a form of engaged scholarship, combining conceptual work with critical policy development in the domains of rural policy, sustainability policy, technology policy, forestry policy and environmental behaviour change. This work has been taken forward in recent years through an Institute of Advanced Studies project: ′New storylines for living with environmental change: citizens’ perspectives′ (2011 - 2012). More recently, Phil has worked on the governance of emerging technology and societal engagement. This includes the ESRC study on nanotechnology and upstream public engagement (2004 - 2006), and the European DEEPEN project (Deepening Ethical Engagement and Participation in Emerging Technologies) (2006 - 2009). The DEEPEN project constituted Europe′s leading consortium on the ethical dimensions of emerging nanotechnologies and their implications for civil society, governance and scientific practice. The research contributed to the philosophy that underpins two European initiatives: (1) the European Code of Conduct for Responsible Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies Research Initiative and its emphasis on responsible development and anticipatory governance; and (2) the Responsible Research and Innovation Initiative and its emphasis on embedding broader societal goals into the practice of science itself. The research further contributed to UK national policy initiatives on synthetic biology, geoengineering and responsible innovation. This work has led to an on-going research project for the UK research councils designing a ′draft framework for responsible innovation′. Phil was Founding Director of the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience (IHRR) (2006 - 2008), a Demos Associate (2004 - 2008), a Visiting Professor at the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Brazil (2009), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (2008 - ), a member of the UK’s EPSRC’s Societal Issues Panel (2010 - 2011), a member of EPSRC’s Strategic Advisory Network (2011 - ) and chair of the Stagegate panel of the RCUK-funded Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering (SPICE) project. He has recently co-authored (with Richard Owen) a comment piece for Nature, ′Good governance for geoengineering′.

Review:

`This book is vigorously written and bursting with ideas, indeed, mirroring the book′s own conclusions about the post-modern world it barely manages to govern its own content. Although it ′seeks to show that there is no singualr ′nature′ as such, only by a diversity of contested of contested natures′ (p.1), by the end it is clear we are really dealing with the problem of ′the environment′, of a ′globable nature′, the ′global environment′, ′the planet′, ′the globe′ (pp. 274-7)′ - British Journal of Sociology

`This is a valubale collation and multi-disciplinary critical review of numerous concepts, positions and contexts surrounding different knowledges - elite, academic, popular - concerning nature. Ratmond Williams famously refers to nature, along with culture, as the most difficult words in the English language for which to establish `meaning′ (Keywords, Fontana, 1976). Macnaghten and Urry′s book does justice to this difficulty in the complexity it reveals′ - Journal of Rural Studies

`Contested Natures is an invaluable asset for a student of environmental politics and of human-nature relations. Its lucid and clear writing style combines with good summary introductions and conclusions to provide a clear and well-written introduction to the historiography of human-nature relations in the west′ - Environmental Politics

`This book gives us a firm idea of what the sociology of another modernity is about. Finally we go beyond a reductionist view of nature. Quite astonishing: sociology of the environment becomes exciting′ - Ulrich Beck, University of Munich

`Contested Natures is a path-breaking sociological analysis that provides a theoretical foundation to the practice of environmentalists around the world. It will be debated for years to come′ - Manuel Castells, University of California, Berkeley

`A panoramic approach to our society′s approach to nature, this book is a superb analysis of many of our modern discontents with our treatment of the natural environment. It deserves to become a classic′ - Howard Newby, Vice-Chancellor, University of Southampton

`Steadfastly aligning their book within a social constructionist view of nature, the authors of Contested Nature set out to depict a sociology of the environment in which ′strictly speaking there is no such thing a natuture, only natures′. A series of almost stand-alone chapters each reveal different aspects of these ( contested ) natures...Individually the chapters are thorough and well-researched, and will provide a good resource for students and teachers alike..the book covers a great deal of ground and its support for Tim Ingold′s idea of `dwellingness′ marks it out as an important resource in debates about nature(s) within social science′ - The Geographical Journal

` This is, in many ways, an extraordinary and groundbreaking book. Of the currently available social scientific understandings of the environmental problem (more accurately, problems) it certainly has been seen as one of the most innovatory and path breaking. Furthermore, its excellence is a product of combining radically new theoretical insights with detailed empirical work′ - Regional Studies

` To cut the bottom-line, this book is a "must read." The endorsements on the book cover, which in this case do not mislead, describe it as a potential classic in the sociology of the environment. But, while centrally based in the discipline of sociology, the book deserves a wider readership for its insights into the relationship between nature and society....Through a mix of literature review and original research findings, MacNaghten and Urry present an unfolding analysis of the social construction of the environment (as opposed to more purely biological) dimensions of "nature"....Overall, this is a broad ranging analysis of how contested natures arise. It is well written, full of detail and interesting throughout′

`There is good and useful material in this book. It should stimulate anyone interested in how people construe the environment, act within it or seek to guide the actions of others. And after all, environmentalism is important politically and socially, and pervaded many aspects of the lives of the people we study. This book is a useful sketch of environmentalism as a political and cultural fact of life in England′ - JRAI

". . .a rich discussion of the ways in which nature and the environment are constituted in specific social practices. . .a subtle, textured account of how natures are constructed, experienced, understood, and acted upon." 

Author: Bruce Braun Published On: 2001-04-16

About this edition

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0761953124
• ISBN 13: 9780761953128
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320