Perspectives for a New Social Theory of Sustainability

This ambitious book outlines the theoretical and practical implications of the recent technological revolution of human/non-human relations for social researchers, and in so doing, seeks to develop more adequate theoretical and methodological models for social scientists to describe and investigate these social transformations and their consequences. The environmental strategies to balance human actions with the earth's resources utilizing a sustainable approach can inspire original conceptualizations and, therefore, a new sociological paradigm rooted in a necessary rethinking of the dualism between nature and culture, and of human relations in a hyper-connected society increasingly composed by non-human elements.

Chapter discussions include:

• Sustainability and the crisis of the theoretical functional model
• Environmental sustainability and the evolution of capitalism
• From moral imperatives to indicators and indices: a methodology for validating and assessing SDGs
• An understanding of psychopathological syndromes related to social environments
• Social research between participation and critical detachment
  Perspectives for a New Social Theory of Sustainability emphasizes that not only are modernist theories of unlimited wealth and progress no longer supportable, but also that their theoretical and empirical settings must be reassessed if society is to move towards sustainability. It promises to be required reading for students and researchers in sociology, psychology, economics and statistics, as well as professionals within government organizations and NGOs focused on human rights work, global inequities, ethical activism, and the UN Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals. "This book provides a unique toolkit for politicians and citizens on sustainable development and how it is fulfilled every day."
  David Maria SASSOLI

European Parliament President

Critically reviews the mono- and multidisciplinary definition of sustainability Proposes a viable definition of sustainability for wider use in the social sciences Applies integrated theoretical and methodological analyses for the interpretation of sustainability as a social process and links them to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Features heretofore unpublished commentaries about the question of sustainability for the social sciences from the renowned sociologist Franco Ferrarotti, and expert economist and statistician Enrico Giovannini

Auteur

Mariella Nocenzi, PhD, is a research fellow at Sapienza University of Rome in the Department of Communication and Social Research. She is the scientific director of the International Observatory of Social Theory on New Technologies and Sustainability - Sostenibilia, as well as a founding member of the Scientific Council of the Inter-University Observatory of Gender and Equal Opportunity (GIO). Among her research interests in national and international projects are social history and theory, with a specific link to gender studies, sustainability and social diversity, and risks and conditions of security and safety in globalization. She is an Assistant Editor of the International Review of Sociology and has edited several publications, drawn from research on environmental issues, risk, Europe, young people, equal opportunities, and gender policies. Among her latest publications: Verso una società sostenibile. (Non)umani, reti, città e la sfida del cambiamento (ed.) [Towards a sustainable society. (No)humans, networks, cities and the challenge of the change], 2019.

Alessandra Sannella, PhD, is a social theory researcher at the Department of Human Sciences, Society and Health at the University of Cassino and South Lazio, Italy. She is the coordinator of this University Committee for Sustainable Development (CASe) and represents the University in the Italian Network of Sustainable Universities (RUS). In addition, she is active in the teaching programs of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the Sapienza University of Rome. Her scientific research and activities center on the reduction of inequality in international migration, health and global health policies, and structural violence, with specific attention paid to sustainable development in these areas. In line with these aims, she has coordinated national and European research projects on issues related to migration and the associated questions of bioethics. Her recent publications include articles on vulnerability and violence in society and the book La Violenza tra tradizione e digital society. [Violence between tradition and the digital society] (2017). Sannella has also been the editor of a wide range of sociological journals and academic volumes.

Contenu

Chapter 1: Some Remarks for a New Sociological Theory of Sustainability.- Chapter 2: Sustainability and the Crisis of the Theoretical Functional Model.- Chapter 3: Environmental Sustainability and the Evolution of Capitalism.- Chapter 4: The Thought of Zygmunt Bauman as a Key for Entering into a New Social Theory.- Chapter 5: Sustainability and SDGs: From Moral Imperatives to Indicators and Indexes - A Methodology for Validating and Assessing SDGs.- Chapter 6: Sustainability as a Key Imperative in Project Cycle Management: Sociological Considerations.- Chapter 7: Toward an Understanding of Psychopathological Syndromes related to Social Environments.- Chapter 8: Social Research between Participation and Critical Detachment.- Chapter 9: Sustainability Through Unsustainability? Unintended Consequences and Emancipatory Catastrophism.- Chapter 10: The Sociology and the Sustainable Development: The Paradigm is Going to Change.

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