Environment and society

This short introductory and interdisciplinary text analyses the wide range of issues which have come to be known collectively as the environment question and have now entered the mainstream of public affairs.

Witrout assuming any previous knowledge of physics, chemistry and biology, the first three chapters introduce the topics of ecology, population, resources and pollution Chapter 4 summarises 'the environ mental debate. Here the authers review the major positions which different participants in the debate have taken on the causes of environ mental problems and on strategies fc dealing with them.

The two following chapters examine environmental problems from the viewpoint of social science. The authors foo on the political-economic processes by which decisions affecting the environment are made, and analyse the main strands of thought in current environmental policy making: the use of taxes, subsidies, cost-benefit analyses and legislation..

The concluding chapter concentrates on the longer term. Do the responses to environmental problems point to the evolution of a 'post industrial society? Can examination of the forces which seem to have shaped previous cultural change give insights to the likely developments of present systems? Can an 'alternative society' be envisaged which is not based on economic growth and high technology? Contemporary thinking about these issues is surveyed, and questions are posed about the politics, economics and international relations of future society.