ABSTRACT
Conceptual issues include questions about the scope and organization of human ecosystems, and about how the reality can be represented in a sociological frame of reference. Theoretical issues reflect concerns over the ordering of cause and effect relationships, and over the potential of the ecological approach to advance prediction and explanation of variations in social structure and social process. Social scientists have viewed societal evolution as a long-range process by which more complex societies emerge from their simpler predecessors. Some believe that growth and evolution occur in cycles or rhythmatic patterns. Time frames must be investigated in order to specify important points of measurement. Measurement of ecological concepts is of course a central issue. Trends in the consumption of materials, energy, and information are natural concerns of both the human ecologist and the policymaker. Sociological human ecologists have given considerable thought to some issues relevant to development of their field of inquiry while neglecting others.
