Perspectives for a New Social Theory of Sustainability

This book’s main purpose was to outline some of the theoretical and practical implications of the recent technological revolution, referring to contemporary human/non-human relations, for social researchers and for readers of sociological analysis. The main hypothesis is that the rising entanglement of human and non- human elements, but also an increasingly common awareness of the limitations of human development, require an adaptation—if not a regeneration—of epistemological and methodological tools for the interpretation of current social processes. The environmental strategies for balancing human actions and the earth’s resources by means of a sustainable approach can inspire fresh new conceptualizations, and, therefore, a new sociological paradigm. Not only are the modernist theories of unlimited wealth and progress no longer sustainable, but their theoretical and empirical settings also need to be revised, starting from a necessary rethinking of the dualism between nature and culture, and of the human relations in a hyper- connected society, increasingly composed of non-human elements.