This book marks a watershed in the social sciences. The qualitative, critical perspective of sociology and allied disciplines challenges the technocentric managerialism' which dominates environmental policy, its discourse and its impact.
The authors explore the relationship between social theory and sustainability in an attempt to transend technical rhetoric and embrace a broader understanding of nature'.

Chapter 1 Introduction, Ted Benton, Michael Redclift; Chapter 2 Biology and Social Theory in the Environmental Debate, Ted Benton; Chapter 3 Sociology and the Environment, Michael Redclift, Graham Woodgate; Chapter 4 The Limits to Neoclassicism, Michael Jacobs; Chapter 5 Running out of Time, Barbara Adam; Chapter 6 Gender Analysis and Environmentalisms, Cecile Jackson; Chapter 7 Social Movements and Environmental Change, Steven Yearley; Chapter 8 Scientific Knowledge and the Global Environment, Brian Wynne; Chapter 9 Facing Global Warming, Angela Liberatore; Chapter 10 Global Sociology and Global Environmental Change, Leslie Sklair; Chapter 11 Environmental Sociology And Global Environmental Change, Frederick Buttel, Peter Taylor; Chapter 12 Sustaining Developments in Environmental Sociology, Elizabeth Shove;