Beyond the society/nature divide: building on the sociology of William Freudenburg

Abstract

Societies have always benefited from nature’s processes and been harmed by its massive perturbations, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. Population growth as a consequence of scientific advances is presently putting far greater numbers of people in harm’s way. Technological development is not only creating new possibilities, such as nuclear energy and novel techniques of extraction of fossil fuels, but also unleashing new risks, for example nuclear meltdown and global warming resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels. The interaction between social constructions and those of nature is intensifying. To explore the possibilities and difficulties of a sociological investigation of the interaction between social and biophysical dynamics instead of sociology being limited to one side of that divide, this paper scrutinizes in depth the work of an outstanding American sociologist who did cutting-edge research along these lines, namely William Freudenburg. It begins by describing the social and intellectual context of his work. It then shows the value of his concepts and methodology. His approach is particularly innovative for the discipline, documenting that even meanings and technology are conjointly constituted by social constructions and nature’s dynamics. The paper demonstrates the potential of his framework for future research and suggests an extension of his concepts and methodology for the analysis of one of the environmental problems that contemporary societies are having the most difficulty dealing with, namely global warming.