The Relation of Nature and Society in Marx and Durkheim

Abstract

'Environmental sociology' has recently achieved some recognition as a new branch of sociology, but the evaluation of the sociological tradition from this angle is still half-done at most. It is no longer possible to view environmental sociology mainly as a critique of mainstream sociology, as the theoretical disputes of general sociology are found in environmental sociology, too. In this article the significance of two great classical writers, Marx and Durkheim, is evaluated in this respect. The relation of nature and society is important in Marx's work, and, as it is argued, Marx's work is still largely relevant today. Durkheim's dictum that social facts must be explained by other social facts has been much criticized in environmental sociology. It is argued, however, that the view of nature as a social category, which we find in Marx as well as in Durkheim, is extremely important in environmental sociology. Neither Marx nor Durkheim insisted that nature was merely a social category.