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  • 5 - Microsociological Perspectives in Environmental Sociology

  • from Part I - Theory in Environmental Sociology
  • Edited by Katharine Legun, Julie C. Keller, University of Rhode Island, Michael Carolan, Colorado State University, Michael M. Bell, University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology
    Published online:
    05 November 2020
    Print publication:
    03 December 2020, pp 74-92

  • Summary

    We begin with a brief historical overview of how leading environmental sociologists from the 1970s and 1980s largely criticized or rejected microsociological theorists for contributing to the wider problem of human exemptionalism. We then document how, since the 1990s, the microsociological theories of George Herbert Mead and Erving Goffman were creatively brought to bear on environmental concerns, contrary to earlier accusations that they were irrelevant to the field. In the second half of the chapter, we consider other, more recent micro-theoretical developments in environmental sociology involving pragmatist action theory, actor-network theory, and human-nonhuman animal interaction. We argue that such developments constitute a gravitational shift in environmental microsociological theorizing in the importance they place on the social situation for environmental action, departing from the earlier focus on self and identity. In line with this, we propose small group dynamics be included in the focus on social situations.