ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the development of Amos H. Hawley’s theoretical perspective on sociological human ecology, focusing on his 1950 book, although some of his other work will also be identified and discussed in order to place his ideas within the proper perspective. It examines the two major theoretical models or paradigms which are pre-eminent in contemporary sociological human ecology: the ecological complex model and the sustenance organization model. Hawley’s graduate work was guided by K. S. McKenzie, who some have argued was the most imaginative of the architects of “classical” human ecology. Hawley’s began with an ecological perspective linking general ecology and the central problem of sociology—social organization—and developed an encompassing theory of one of the key problems faced by the human species: the growth and survival of social systems. The sustenance organization model of contemporary human ecology is characterized by a concern with the organizational aspects of human populations arising from their sustenance-producing activities.
