ISBN:
1560000686
Language:
English
Pages:
X, 357 S.
DDC:
304.2
Keywords:
Colección Antropología aplicada
;
Anthropologie appliquée
;
Antropologische aspecten
;
Conservation des ressources naturelles
;
Ecologie
;
Recursos naturales - Conservación
;
Écologie humaine
;
Applied anthropology
;
Conservation of natural resources
;
Human ecology
;
Umweltschutz
;
Anthropologie
;
Verhalten
;
Humanökologie
;
Humanökologie
;
Verhalten
;
Anthropologie
;
Umweltschutz
Abstract:
Human interaction with the physical environment has a dual character. By turning increasing quantities of natural substances and other living species into "natural resources," human beings might be said to have freed themselves from the constraints of the natural world. However, this "freedom" has resulted in population increases and environmental damage that make human beings ever more dependent on nature. In Human Ecology as Human Behavior, John W. Bennett, one of the few anthropologists concerned with contemporary environmental issues, goes to the heart of this paradox to provide a wide-ranging, cross-disciplinary inquiry into the behavioral aspects of environmental problems and economic development. Bennett's essays are headed by an exposition of basic theory, followed by presentations of his major field studies of resource management
Abstract:
In the theoretical chapters he defines the behavioral and social processes whereby human beings realize their ability to shape nature to their own ends, for better or for worse. These chapters have an underlying pessimism: if human behavior toward the physical environment is the distinctive cause of environmental abuse, then reform of current management practices offers only temporary relief; that is, conservatism, like democracy, must be continually reaffirmed. The research project chapters show how these ideas were put to work in studies of Japanese forest management, water allocation in the North American West, and the management of communal agricultural resources and property among the Hutterian Brethren viewed from the standpoint of the "sustainability" issue in development studies. Finally, in a third and concluding section, Bennett reviews recent literature on the environmental movement and resource management
Abstract:
and in the last chapter surveys the rise of ecological philosophies that reject the centrality of human beings in nature and advocate the rights of other species. Clearly presented and free of jargon, Human Ecology as Human Behavior will be of interest to anthropologists, economists, and environmentalists
