The Archipelago of Social Ecology and the Island of the Vienna School

Abstract

Social Ecology is an interdisciplinary research field rooted in the traditions of both the Social Sciences and Natural Sciences. The common denominator of this research field is not a shared label but a shared paradigm. Related labels that extend beyond Social Ecology include Human Ecology, Industrial Ecology, Ecological Economics and Socioecological Systems Analysis. The core axioms of the shared paradigm are that human social and natural systems interact, coevolve over time and have substantial impacts upon one another, with causality working in both directions. Social Ecology offers a conceptual approach to society-nature coevolution pertaining to history, to current development processes and to a future sustainability transition. This chapter reviews several academic traditions that have contributed to the emergence of this paradigm and then describes the research areas belonging to the field. One cluster deals with society’s biophysical structures (such as energy and society, land use and food production and social metabolism, the field covered by Industrial Ecology and Ecological Economics). Other clusters identify the environmental impacts of human societies (such as the IPAT and footprint approaches), biohistory and society-nature coevolution. Another research area considers regulation, governance and sustainability transitions. In the last section, we describe the distinguishing characteristics of the Vienna Social Ecology School.