The changed ecological conditions confronting human societies seriously challenge sociology, for the discipline developed in an era when humans seemed exempt from ecological constraints. Disciplinary traditions and assumptions that evolved during the age of exuberant growth imbued sociology with a worldview or paradigm which impedes recognition of the societal significance of current ecological realities. Thus, sociology stands in need of a fundamental alteration in its disciplinary paradigm. The objectives of this article are to make explicit the &dquo;Human Exemptionalism Paradigm&dquo; implicit in traditional sociological thought, and to develop an alternative &dquo;New Ecological Paradigm&dquo; which may better serve the field in a post-exuberant age.
Environmental sociology comprises a diverse set of interests, with the built‐environment/natural‐environment cleavage being especially significant. Yet, by virtue of their interest in societal‐environmental relations, all environmental sociologists depart significantly from the disciplinary tradition of ignoring the physical environment. We offer an ecological perspective as a fruitful way of viewing the relations between societal and environmental phenomena, and as a means of integrating work on both built and natural environments.
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