Living in Space: Cultural and Social Dynamics, Opportunities, and Challenges in Permanent Space Habitats

Abstract

This article reviews the recent book of the Aerospace Technology Working Group, Living in Space, from an anthropological (holistic social science) perspective. This perspective is used as a springboard for both a discussion of the future, and for a critique of, astrosociology—a field broadly defined to include the range of social sciences as applied to human behaviors in, and in interaction with, various space environments. The review sets a theoretical context with some basic principles of social science, familiar to anthropologists, that can be applied to space habitats, and examines Living in Space in this social science context looking at what it does, where it fits in the literature, and what views of space and society it represents. It then seeks to sketch out how the future might go in astrosociology with appropriate funding and interest, along with a discussion of the prospects of the field.