ABSTRACT
This chapter explains some key contributions to the construction of a new ecological paradigm of what is now widely referred to as 'environmental sociology'. These include not only recent conceptual developments and theories of environmental degradation and ecological reform, but also reappraisals of the ecological dimensions of the work of sociology's founding scholars. The chapter also highlights important cleavages within environmental sociology and the enduring controversies that these have produced. It summarizes the environmental foundations of classical sociological thinking uncovered by recent scholarship. Sociological engagement with the material bases of social life has a long, but intermittent and sometimes overlooked, genealogy. The chapter concludes by supporting the idea that critical realist philosophy might provide a framework for the integration of a variety of ecosociological approaches that acknowledge the importance of both social and material influences in the character and dynamics of socioenvironmental relations.
