ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book provides some suggestions for advancing the sociological study of natural resource systems. It examines how emphasis on spatial, temporal, and social scales can productively build on previous sociological studies of natural resources. The book discusses how the relatively rapid reproduction cycles of game species has permitted subsistence to function as an institutionalized mechanism for helping people cope with the boom and bust cycles of a succession of unstable extractive industries. It offers a contrasting interpretation of the attempts of Japanese mountain villagers to recover from economic and population decline resulting from the substitution of imported oil for charcoal and fuel wood. The book describes the role of the broader concerns in national forest planning and private forest practices regulation, respectively. It demonstrates how foresters ignored social dynamics of communities and market cycles and fixed their attention on rationalizing space.
