HUMAN ECOLOGY AS AN INTERDISCIPLINARY CONCEPT
11
1. Sociology: social and human ecology
It is in sociology that human ecology, as a concept, a method, is most
strongly established; it is in sociology that the idea of human ecology
began, and where may be found the strongest and most unbroken
tradition (Dawson, 1934; Llewellyn and Hawthorn, 1945). This claim
can be made without really being able to identify a t what specific point
in time sociologists actually began to think about applying ecological
concepts.
A number of “beginnings” of the ecological approach can be isolated
in sociology. Most frequently, the beginning is dated from the seminal
book “Introduction to the Science of Sociology” by R. E. Park and
E. W. Burgess (1921), wherein the authors excerpted a number of basic
bio-ecological works (such as Darwin’s) and made an effort to apply the
concepts so isolated, those of plant and animal ecology, to human
collective life. Theodorson (1961), for example, identifies this date as
marking the introduction of the term “human ecology” by Park and
Burgess. Some would contend that Park’s earlier (1915) and rather
lengthy article on human behavior and the “city environment” marks
the beginnings of sociological human ecology. Park (1915, 1921 with
Burgess, 1936a, b) and later McKenzie (1924, 1926, 1931, 1934) are
widely accepted as the founders of human ecology within sociology.
The Park-Burgess book was, of course, based on earlier sources in
sociology. The authors depend heavily, for example, on the works of
Herbert Spencer. Talcott Parsons, in his introduction to a recent
reprinting of Spencer’s 1874 book “The Study of Sociology”, suggests
that Spencer’s thinking about society is “informed with three main basic
positive theoretical ideas: first, that of society as a self-regulating
system, second, that of differentiation of function, and third, that of
evolution”. These certainly suggest a precedent for an ecological
approach to sociology. Parson’s statement that “all [Spencer’s ideas]
remain as important today as they were when he wrote” is as true in
human ecology as it is for sociology in general.
Another book, “Pure Sociology” by L. F. Ward (1903) who expanded
the biological idea of symbiosis into a larger principle of synergy, might
be marked as a source of modern human ecology; Ward was an American
sociologist who might be, but generally is not, regarded as one of the
forerunners of human ecology, if not a founder.
An argument could be made for the roots of sociological human
ecology as early as 1873 with the works of Bagehot, who explored the
application of the principles of “natural selection and inheritance to
political society”. Additionally, Durkheim’s work in the late 1800’s
might be isolated as a basic source for an ecological approach in
11
1. Sociology: social and human ecology
It is in sociology that human ecology, as a concept, a method, is most
strongly established; it is in sociology that the idea of human ecology
began, and where may be found the strongest and most unbroken
tradition (Dawson, 1934; Llewellyn and Hawthorn, 1945). This claim
can be made without really being able to identify a t what specific point
in time sociologists actually began to think about applying ecological
concepts.
A number of “beginnings” of the ecological approach can be isolated
in sociology. Most frequently, the beginning is dated from the seminal
book “Introduction to the Science of Sociology” by R. E. Park and
E. W. Burgess (1921), wherein the authors excerpted a number of basic
bio-ecological works (such as Darwin’s) and made an effort to apply the
concepts so isolated, those of plant and animal ecology, to human
collective life. Theodorson (1961), for example, identifies this date as
marking the introduction of the term “human ecology” by Park and
Burgess. Some would contend that Park’s earlier (1915) and rather
lengthy article on human behavior and the “city environment” marks
the beginnings of sociological human ecology. Park (1915, 1921 with
Burgess, 1936a, b) and later McKenzie (1924, 1926, 1931, 1934) are
widely accepted as the founders of human ecology within sociology.
The Park-Burgess book was, of course, based on earlier sources in
sociology. The authors depend heavily, for example, on the works of
Herbert Spencer. Talcott Parsons, in his introduction to a recent
reprinting of Spencer’s 1874 book “The Study of Sociology”, suggests
that Spencer’s thinking about society is “informed with three main basic
positive theoretical ideas: first, that of society as a self-regulating
system, second, that of differentiation of function, and third, that of
evolution”. These certainly suggest a precedent for an ecological
approach to sociology. Parson’s statement that “all [Spencer’s ideas]
remain as important today as they were when he wrote” is as true in
human ecology as it is for sociology in general.
Another book, “Pure Sociology” by L. F. Ward (1903) who expanded
the biological idea of symbiosis into a larger principle of synergy, might
be marked as a source of modern human ecology; Ward was an American
sociologist who might be, but generally is not, regarded as one of the
forerunners of human ecology, if not a founder.
An argument could be made for the roots of sociological human
ecology as early as 1873 with the works of Bagehot, who explored the
application of the principles of “natural selection and inheritance to
political society”. Additionally, Durkheim’s work in the late 1800’s
might be isolated as a basic source for an ecological approach in