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Building on recent developments in social ecology, this book advances a new critical theory of society and nature, exploring social metabolism and global resource flows in contemporary society. Barriers to global sustainability are identified and conditions for transforming industrial economies towards new sustainable resource use are described.

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Introduction: The Development of Social Ecology Interdisciplinary Research in Society and Nature in the 20th Century Sources of Social Ecology: Discourses on Society and Nature in Sociology Sources of Social Ecology: Ecosystems and Natural Resources in Ecological Discourses Thematic Profiles of Social Ecology: The Research on Resource Flows and the Physical Economy in a Global Context Thematic Profiles of Social Ecology: The Research on Human Land Use, Food and Biomass Production in European and Global Contexts Thematic Profiles of Social Ecology: Knowledge Synthesis in a Theory of Interaction of Society and Nature Social Ecology: A Science in Development Social Ecology and Practice: The Policy Process and the Social-Ecological Discourse

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KARL BRUCKMEIER is Professor in Human Ecology in the School of Global Studies, Gothenberg University, Sweden.

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