Earthing the Anthropos:from ‘socializing the Anthropocene’ to geologizing the social

Clark, Nigel Halcomb and Gunaratnam, Yasmin (2017) Earthing the Anthropos:from ‘socializing the Anthropocene’ to geologizing the social. European Journal of Social Theory, 20 (1). pp. 146-163. ISSN 1368-4310

[thumbnail of EarthingAnthropos2016 EJST_FINAL]
Preview
PDF (EarthingAnthropos2016 EJST_FINAL)
EarthingAnthropos2016_EJST_FINAL.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial.

Download (300kB)

Abstract

Responding to claims of Anthropocene geoscience that humans are now geological agents, social scientists are calling for renewed attention to the social, cultural, political and historical differentiation of the Anthropos. But does this leave critical social thought’s own key concepts and categories unperturbed by the Anthropocene provocation to think through dynamic earth processes? Can we ‘socialize the Anthropocene’ without also opening ‘the social’ to climate, geology and earth system change? Revisiting the earth science behind the Anthropocene thesis and drawing on social research that is using climatology and earth systems thinking to help understand socio-historical change, this article explores some of the possibilities for ‘geologizing’ social thought. While critical social thought’s attention to justice and exclusion remains vital, it suggests that responding to Anthropocene conditions also calls for a kind of ‘geo-social’ thinking that relates human diversity and social difference to the potentiality and multiplicity of the earth itself.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
European Journal of Social Theory
Additional Information:
The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, European Journal of Social Theory, 20 (1), 2017, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2017 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the European Journal of Social Theory page: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/est on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3312
Subjects:
?? ANTHROPOCENE CLIMATE CHANGEDEEP TIMEEARTH SCIENCE GEOLOGYGEO-SOCIAL FUTURESHOLOCENE SOCIAL DIFFERENCE SOCIOLOGY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE ??
ID Code:
82282
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
31 Oct 2016 10:10
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
21 Sep 2023 02:08