Classificatory disputes and scientific controversies: society, nature, and culture in the Anthropocene

Authors

  • Felipe Barbosa Bertuluci Master in Sociology, PhD Student, Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas Ambientais, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6147-546X
  • Leila da Costa Leila da Costa PhD in Social Sciences, Professor, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4138-9860
  • Roberto Donato Silva Júnior PhD in Environment and Society, Professor, Faculdade de Ciências Aplicadas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Limeira, SP, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9101-7048

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18472/SustDeb.v12n2.2021.34395

Keywords:

Anthropocene. Sustainability. Social Theory. Climate Change.

Abstract

In general, the idea of Anthropocene refers to the set of socio-historical, ecological, economic, and technological transformations responsible for configuring a new stage of regulation and evolution of the planetary geological system. From its original proposition in the 2000s, this notion gained increasing repercussion, mobilizing different positions in multiple fields of scientific knowledge. This article aims to develop a critical analysis of some of the main concepts found in such debates, from the mobilization of three fundamental analytical categories: the concepts of Society, Nature, and Culture. In methodological terms, this is a literature review article based on qualitative and non-systematic bibliographic research. The analysis undertaken here indicates how the different approaches mobilized by the driving idea of Anthropocene result in theoretical movements that redefine the relationships between agency, structure, and social change in the historical context of modern industrial societies.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Felipe Barbosa Bertuluci, Master in Sociology, PhD Student, Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas Ambientais, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil

Graduated in Social Sciences (Bachelor and Licentiate) at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH) at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and Master in Sociology (Graduate Program in Sociology – IFCH – Unicamp). Currently he is a regular student of the PhD course in Environment and Society at Center for Environmental Studies and Research (Nepam – Unicamp) and researcher at LABGEC (Laboratory of Social Dimensions of the Global Environmental Changes in the Global South). He develops research and works on the following themes: environmental sociology, sustainability, social practices, sustainable consumption and global climate change.

Leila da Costa Leila da Costa, PhD in Social Sciences, Professor, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil

Professor of Sociology at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences at UNICAMP. Senior researcher at Center for Environmental Studies and Research (NEPAM-UNICAMP). Currently is Associate Coordinator of Nepam. CNPq Researcher. Representative of UNICAMP WUN Global Challenges- Adapting to climate change. She is a member of the International Sociological Association (ISA). Associate Faculty member of the Earth System Governance Project (Future Earth). She was Visiting Professor at the University of Texas/ UT in the USA in 1998 and Visiting Professor at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China in 2009. She did post-doctoral studies at the University of York in England in 2005 and post-doctoral studies at the University of Texas/ UT in 1995/1996. She has lectured in more than 20 countries on environmental issues. She is the author of more than 10 books on environmental issues.

Roberto Donato Silva Júnior, PhD in Environment and Society, Professor, Faculdade de Ciências Aplicadas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Limeira, SP, Brazil

Professor of the Common General Core, of the Interdisciplinary Master's Degree in Applied Human and Social Sciences (ICHSA) of the Faculty of Applied Sciences (FCA) and of the PhD in Environment and Society of the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH), all at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP). He has Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences (Bachelor and Licentiate) and Master's in Sociology from the Faculty of Sciences and Languages, Araraquara Campus (FCLAr) of the São Paulo State University “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” (UNESP) and PhD in Environment and Society from the Postgraduate Program in Environment and Society of the Center for Environmental Studies and Research (NEPAM/IFCH/UNICAMP). Currently, he is a member of the sub-committee of the PhD in Environment and Society, of the sub-committee of the Interdisciplinary Masters in Applied Social and Human Sciences and Associate Editor of the Journal “Environment and Society”. He is also a member of the boards of the National Association of Interdisciplinary Research and Post-Graduation in Social Sciences and Humanities (Aninter-SH) and the National Association of Post-Graduation and Research in Environment and Society (ANPPAS). Having as a starting point sociology and social studies of science, he develops research about the scientific production on environmental issues and its propositional, normative and political potentialities, both from an ethnographic point of view and from the analysis of the discursive dynamics of scientific artifacts. He works mainly on the following themes: sociology, anthropology, ecology and economics related to environmental and social issues; sustainability, agroecology, interdisciplinarity and education.

References

ARTAXO, P. Uma nova era geológica em nosso planeta: o Antropoceno? Revista USP, n. 103, p. 13-24, 2014. Available from: https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-9036.v0i103p13-24/. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

ASAFU-ADJAYE, J. et al. An ecomodernist manifesto. 2015. Available from: http://www.ecomodernism.org/. Access on: Jul. 18, 2020.

AUTIN, W. J.; HOLBROOK, J. M. Is the Anthropocene an issue of stratigraphy or pop culture? GSA Today, v. 22, n. 7, p. 60-61, 2012. Available from: https://www.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/22/7/abstract/i1052-5173-22- 7-60.htm. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

BALÉE, W. The research program of historical ecology. Annual Review of Anthropology, v. 35, p. 75-98, 2006. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.35.081705.123231. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

BALÉE, W. Sobre a indigeneidade das paisagens. Revista de Arqueologia, v. 21, n. 2, p. 9-23, 2008. Available from: https://doi.org/10.24885/sab.v21i2.248. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

BAUER, A. M.; ELLIS, E. C. The Anthropocene Divide. Current Anthropology, v. 59, n. 2, 2018. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1086/697198. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

BECK, U. Risk Society: towards a new modernity. London: Sage, 1992.

BECK, U. A reinvenção da política: rumo a uma teoria da modernização reflexiva. In: BECK, U.; GIDDENS, A.; LASH, S. Modernização reflexiva: política, tradição e estética na ordem social moderna. São Paulo: Editora da Universidade Estadual Paulista, 1997.

Classificatory disputes and scientific controversies: society, nature, and culture

in the Anthropocene

BECK, U. A metamorfose do mundo: novos conceitos para uma nova realidade. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 2018. E-book. ISBN 9788537817490. Available from: https://integrada.minhabiblioteca.com.br/books/9788537817490. Access on: Sep. 14, 2020.

BRONDIZIO, E. S. et al. Re-conceptualizing the Anthropocene: a call for collaboration. Global Environmental Change, v. 39, p. 318-327, 2016. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.02.006. Access on: Mar. 24, 2021.

CHAKRABARTY, D. The climate of history: four theses. Critical inquiry, v. 35, n. 2, p. 197-222, 2009. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/596640. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

CHAKRABARTY, D. Anthropocene time. History and Theory, v. 57, n. 1, p. 5-32, 2018. Available from: https://doi. org/10.1111/hith.12044. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

CRUTZEN, P. Geology of mankind: the Anthropocene. Nature, v. 415, p. 23, 2002. Available from: https://www. nature.com/articles/415023a. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

CRUTZEN, P. Albedo enhancement by stratospheric sulfur injections: a contribution to resolve a policy dilemma? Climatic change, v. 77, n. 3-4, p. 211, 2006. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-006-9101-y. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

CRUTZEN, P.; STOERMER, E. The Anthropocene. IGBP newsletter, 41. Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, 2000.

ELLIS, E. The planet of no return: human resilience on an artificial Earth. Breakthrough Journal, v. 2, p. 39-44, 2011. ELLIS, E. The Used Earth: embracing our history as transformers. In: MÖLLERS, N.; SCHWÄGERL, C.; TRISCHLER,

H. (ed.). Welcome to the Anthropocene. The Earth in Our Hands. Munich: Deutsches Museum, p. 52-55, 2015.

FERREIRA, L. da C. Ideias para uma Sociologia da Questão Ambiental no Brasil. São Paulo: Annablume, 2006.

FINNEY, S. C. The “Anthropocene” as a ratified unit in the ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart: fundamental issues that must be addressed by the task group. In: WATERS, C. N. et al. (ed.). A Stratigraphical Basis for the Anthropocene. The Geological Society. London: special publication 395, p. 23-28, 2014. Available from: https:// doi.org/10.1144/SP395.9. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

FINNEY, S. C.; EDWARDS, L. E. The “Anthropocene” epoch: scientific decision or political statement? Gsa Today, v. 26, n. 3, p. 4-10, 2016. Available from: https://www.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/26/3/article/i1052-5173- 26-3-4.htm. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

HAMILTON, C.; GRINEVALD, J. Was the Anthropocene anticipated? The Anthropocene Review, v. 2, n. 1, p. 59-72, 2015. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019614567155. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

HARAWAY, D. Anthropocene, capitalocene, plantationocene, chthulucene: making kin. Environmental humanities, v. 6, n. 1, p. 159-165, 2015. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-3615934. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

HARAWAY, D. Staying with the trouble: anthropocene, capitalocene, chthulucene. In: MOORE, J. W. (ed.). Anthropocene or Capitalocene? Nature, History, and the Crisis of Capitalism. Oakland, CA: PM Press, p. 34-76, 2016.

LATOUR, B. Jamais Fomos Modernos: ensaio de antropologia simétrica. Rio de Janeiro: Editora 34, 1994. LATOUR, B. Reagregando o social: uma introdução à teoria do Ator-Rede. Salvador, Bauru: Edufba, Edusc, 2012.

LATOUR, B. Agency at the Time of the Anthropocene. New literary history, v. 45, n. 1, p. 1-18, 2014. Available from: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/543416. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

LATOUR, B. Facing Gaia: eight lectures on the new climatic regime. Cambridge: Polity, 2017.

LECAIN, T. Against the Anthropocene. A neo-materialist perspective. International journal for history, culture and modernity, p. 1-28, 2015. Available from: https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/handle/1/9310. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

LEWIS, S.; MASLIN, M. Defining the Anthropocene. Nature, v. 519, n. 7542, p. 171-180, 2015. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14258. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

MALM, A.; HORNBORG, A. The geology of mankind? A critique of the Anthropocene narrative. The Anthropocene Review, v. 1, n. 1, p. 62-69, 2014. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019613516291. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

MARCONI, M. de A.; LAKATOS, E. M. Metodologia do trabalho científico: projetos de pesquisa / pesquisa bibliográfica / teses de doutorado, dissertações de mestrado, trabalhos de conclusão de curso. 8. ed. São Paulo: Atlas, 2017.

MEADOWCROFT, J. Who is in Charge here? Governance for Sustainable Development in a Complex World. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, v. 9, n. 3-4, p. 299-314, 2007. Available from: https://doi. org/10.1080/15239080701631544. Access on: Mar. 24, 2021.

MEDEIROS, J. B.; TOMASI, C. Redação de artigos científicos: métodos de realização, seleção de periódicos, publicação. São Paulo: Atlas, 2016.

MONASTERSKY, R. Anthropocene: the human age. Nature News, v. 519, n. 7542, p. 144-147, 2015. Available from: https://www.nature.com/news/anthropocene-the-human-age-1.17085. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

MOORE, J. W. Capitalism in the Web of Life: ecology and the accumulation of capital. London: Verso Books, 2015. MOORE, J. W. Introduction. In: MOORE, J. W. (ed.). Anthropocene or Capitalocene? Nature, History, and the Crisis

of Capitalism. Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2016.

NATURE.Thehumanepoch.Editorial.Nature,v.473,p.254,2011.Availablefrom:https://doi.org/10.1038/473254a. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

NEVES, E. G.; PETERSEN, J. B. Political economy and pre-Columbian landscape transformations in Central Amazonia. In: BALÉE, W.; ERICKSON, C. Time and complexity in historical ecology: studies in the neotropical lowlands. Columbia University Press, 2006.

RIVAL, L. Amazonian historical ecologies. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, v. 12, p. S79-S94, 2006. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3803980. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

ROCKSTRÖM, J. et al. Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity. Ecology and society, v. 14, n. 2, 2009. Available from: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art32/. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

ROOSEVELT, A. C. The Amazon and the Anthropocene: 13,000 years of human influence in a tropical rainforest. Anthropocene, v. 4, p. 69-87, 2013. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2014.05.001. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

RUDDIMAN, W. F. The anthropogenic greenhouse era began thousands of years ago. Climatic change, v. 61, n. 3, p. 261-293, 2003. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CLIM.0000004577.17928.fa. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

RUDDIMAN, W. F. The Anthropocene. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 41, p. 45-68, 2013. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-050212-123944. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

STEFFEN, W.; CRUTZEN, P.; MCNEILL, J. The Anthropocene: are humans now overwhelming the great forces of nature. Ambio: a journal of the human environment, v. 36, n. 8, p. 614-621, 2007. Available from: https://www. jstor.org/stable/25547826. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

STEFFEN, W. et al. The Anthropocene: conceptual and historical perspectives. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A: mathematical, physical and engineering sciences, v. 369, n. 1938, p. 842-867, 2011. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0327. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

STEFFEN, W. et al. The trajectory of the Anthropocene: the great acceleration. The Anthropocene Review, v. 2, n. 1, p. 81-98, 2015. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019614564785. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

TRISCHLER, H. The Anthropocene: a challenge for the history of science, technology, and the environment. NTM, v. 24, n. 3, p. 309-335, 2016. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00048-016-0146-3. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

VAUGHAN, N. E.; LENTON, T. M. A review of climate geoengineering proposals. Climatic change, v. 109, n. 3-4, p. 745-790, 2011. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-011-0027-7. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

VEIGA, J. E. da. Desenvolvimento sustentável: o desafio do século XXI. 3. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Garamond, 2008. WATERS, C. N. et al. The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene. Science, v.

, n. 6269, 2016. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad2622. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

ZALASIEWICZ, J. et al. The Working Group on the Anthropocene: summary of evidence and interim recommendations. Anthropocene, v. 19, p. 55-60, 2017. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2017.09.001. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

ZALASIEWICZ, J. et al. The Anthropocene. Geology Today, v. 34, n. 5, p. 177-181, 2018. Available from: https://doi. org/10.1111/gto.12244. Access on: Sep. 26, 2020.

Published

2021-08-30 — Updated on 2021-09-08

Versions

How to Cite

Bertuluci, F. B., Leila da Costa, L. da C., & Silva Júnior, R. D. . (2021). Classificatory disputes and scientific controversies: society, nature, and culture in the Anthropocene. Sustainability in Debate, 12(2), 159–184. https://doi.org/10.18472/SustDeb.v12n2.2021.34395 (Original work published August 30, 2021)