Ecology And The World-System, Vol. 211

Integrating environmental and world-systems analyses in chapters ranging from the ancient to the contemporary, from the global to the local, from West to East, and from North to South, this book is the first collection to analyze environmental issues from the world-systems perspective. The introduction provides Immanuel Wallerstein's fullest explication of the role of ecological constraints in the world-system. Early chapters diagnose the increasing environmental threats to global sustainability and suggest ways to arrive at an integrated theoretical understanding of those threats. The work then shows the historical and geographical range necessary to do justice to ecological considerations in chapters considering ancient civilizations, capitalism, the circumpolar North, the dam-builders of Asia, and the polluters of East Central Europe. The final chapters analyze the successes and limits of environmental movements in the United States, South Africa, and South Korea.

Integrates environmental and world-systems analyses in chapters ranging from the ancient to the contemporary, from the global to the local, from West to East, and from North to South.

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Approaches the intersection along three dimensions: the emergence of threats to the global environment and of ecological limits to the sustainability of capitalism, the differences in environmental impacts among different types of historical systems and different parts of the capitalist world economy, and replication and variation among environmental social movements. The 12 essays were selected from presentations at an April 1997 sociology conference in Santa Cruz, California. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

WALTER L. GOLDFRANK is Professor of Sociology at the University of California--Santa Cruz.

DAVID GOODMAN is Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

ANDREW SZASZ is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California at Santa Cruz.