Weber and the Environment: Classical Foundations for a Postexemptionalist Sociology

Abstract

In the last two decades classical sociology, notably Marx, has been mined for environmental insights in the attempt to surmount the "human exemptionalism" of post-Second World War sociology. Weber, however, has remained an enigma in this respect. This article addresses Weber's approach to the environment, including its significance for his interpretive-causal framework and his understanding of capitalism. For Weber, sociological meanings were often anchored in biophysical realities, including climate change, resource consumption, and energy scarcity, while environmental influences were refracted in complex ways within cultural reproduction. His work thus constitutes a crucial key to constructing a meaningful postexemptionalist sociology.

Adaptation to climate change as social–ecological trap: a case study of fishing and aquaculture in the Tam Giang Lagoon, Vietnam

“…These findings illustrate a point that was also made by the sociologist Max Weber with reference to floodings in the Dollard, a Dutch-German wetland that is part of the Wadden Sea. He argues that the explanation of the impact of flooding (losses of life and property) can not only be based on an understanding of the environmental event itself, but has to take account of how the people living in the Dollard culturally interpreted these events and acted on them (Weber [1922(Weber [ ] 1978; see also Foster andHolleman 2012: 1632). For Weber, there was no doubt that an objective environmental reality (such as climate change) outside human consciousness existed, but it was also evident for him that this reality can only be known through human intersubjective interpretation.…”

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“…Thus, the threshold would be reached when a significant proportion of the population-in size and/ or influence-experiences a real or perceived decline. We include the perception of a decline because the images of nature, the environment, and its effects are "refracted" through cultural lenses (Foster & Holleman, 2012). When an actual or threatened reduction in local ecological quality from pollution or other forms of degradation creates a real or perceived decline in the standard of living, social movements often emerge to address the problems, including applying pressure on elites in the political economy to respond (cf.…”

“…When system degradation threatens the system, as experienced locally in terms of declining quality of ecological services and opportunities, another source of pressure to act is placed on those in power. Systemic degradation can also contribute to spread the ideology of ecological concern, although with a lag effect because transportation/communication technologies, scientific knowledge, and the perception of a declining standard of living have not kept pace with the ability to degrade ecosystems and the entire biosphere; in addition, any ideology is always filtered through cultural lenses and must compete with other ideologies for prominence (Foster & Holleman, 2012). Ultimately, a struggle ensues between forces of ecological degradation and protection.…”

An Environmental Sociology for the Twenty-First Century

“…Metabolism refers to the general relationship of exchange between human societies and nonhuman natures. The metabolic or ecological rift indicates the disruptions of ecosystem processes and the environmental harm produced by humans in general and capitalism in particular (Foster et al 2010). This has dire consequences for socioecological inequalities and for relations that characterize the domination over nonhuman nature and over human beings by elites.…”