Recognizing our hybridity and interconnectedness: Implications for social and environmental justice

Abstract

A core capability for sociologists who wish to respond to the complex interconnected social, cultural, political and economic challenges will be the ability to transcend disciplinary boundaries and to work with diverse perspectives. Thus those who inform the argument for this article include De Waal and Dawkins (primatology and philosophy), Kymlicka and Donaldson (animal rights and shared habitat), Hirschman and Hannah Arendt (on economics and politics), Amartya Sen (on economics and morality), Stuart Hall (on identity) and Martha Nussbaum (on social justice). The work of Stiglitz on wellbeing stocks is extended through drawing on Vandana Shiva (on the intersections spanning economics, politics and the environment) and a recognition of our interconnectedness as part of a living system. This provides the basis for intersectional policy approaches to address violence against the planet and violence against those without a voice. This capability is important if we are to inform praxis on governing the Anthropocene, in order to protect both human and animal rights along with their shared and separate habitats.