Abstract
Despite considerable advancements over the last couple of years, research on the Anthropocene still faces at least two challenges: (1) integrating different approaches from natural, social and cultural sciences, and (2) clarifying the political relevance of this concept. To address these challenges, we propose an interdisciplinary approach from Social Ecology and Political Economy which combines research on social metabolism with a historical approach to capitalist development. We argue that such an interdisciplinary approach can help to better understand the Great Acceleration of production and consumption and the related surge in global resource flows. The observation of such an acceleration in the physical growth of societies, in turn, is perceived as the most convincing argument to explain fundamental shifts in the state and functioning of the Earth system, the Anthropocene. Our approach emphasizes that the Great Acceleration was not homogeneous, neither in space nor in time. Instead, spatial varieties and different historical trajectories must be considered which allow for the differentiation of two phases of accelerated resource use, taking place in different world regions. In this article, we propose an integrated research framework for the study of the Great Acceleration, illustrate the insights to which its application leads and discuss the political relevance of the Anthropocene for further research on social-ecological transformations.
Highlights
Recent research, and debate, on the Anthropocene has made significant progress but still faces at least two major challenges: (1) how to better integrate ‘the many Anthropocenes’ (Bai et al, 2016; Brondizio et al, 2016; Toivanen et al, 2017) as analysed by different approaches from natural, social and cultural sciences, and (2) how to clarify and improve the political message of this concept (Dalby, 2016)
We argue that much more can be learned about the Great Acceleration by integrating social metabolism research with Political Economy, in particular the Regulation Theory (RT; Jessop, 2001; Lipietz, 1987)
We propose a research framework building on Social Ecology and RT and offer some preliminary insights into the Great Acceleration based on the application of this framework
Summary
Debate, on the Anthropocene has made significant progress but still faces at least two major challenges: (1) how to better integrate ‘the many Anthropocenes’ (Bai et al, 2016; Brondizio et al, 2016; Toivanen et al, 2017) as analysed by different approaches from natural, social and cultural sciences, and (2) how to clarify and improve the political message of this concept (Dalby, 2016) Both aspects are clearly interlinked as each scientific concept is associated with one or more proposals for the beginning and the societal impact of the Anthropocene, providing according narratives of its societal and political relevance (Bonneuil and Fressoz, 2016; Görg, 2016a; Pichler et al, 2017). We thereby wish to engage with the wider debate on the relevance of the Anthropocene as a challenge for social-ecological transformations
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