Global Forces in Social Science Approaches to Natural Resource Management, in SOCIETY AND NATURAL RESOURCES: A SUMMARY OF KNOWLEDGE, 2004

JilIM .B elsky D u rin g th e las t few decades, social sc ien tists have co n tr ib u te d en o rm o u sly to u n d e rs ta n d in g how en v iro n m en ta l a n d n a tu ra l resource m an ag e m en t issues have becom e increasing ly g lobal p h e n o m e n a (S tern, Young & D ru ck m an , 1992), a n d alternately , th a t th e g lobal en v iro n m en t itself h as m u ch to offer th e social sciences (R edciift & B en ton , 1994). T h e g lobal d im en sio n s o f en v iro n m en t a n d society are cen tra l ch ap te rs in to d ay ’ s tex tbooks an d courses (e.g.. Bell 1998; H arp e r, 2001; H um phrey , Lewis & B uttel, 2002). T h is is o ccu rr in g as b iophysical sc ien tists realize th a t th e ir w o rk m ay help society achieve som e e n d o r objective, b u t d e te rm in in g th e objective is largely a social decis ion , a n d o n e m ade m ore d ifficu lt as th e scope fo r w hose view s a re to be in c luded becom es w id e r a n d m o re diverse. T h is ch ap te r is a p re lim in a ry syn thesis o f n a tu ra l reso u rce sociology stud ies, a n d o n e th a t d raw s heavily fro m po b tica l eco logically-inspired geographers, an th ro p o lo g ists , and sociologists. A fter a b r ie f d iscussion o f th e com plexities involved in de fin in g g lobal forces (in c lud ing g lobalization), th e ch ap te r d iscusses fo u r to p ics th a t illu stra te o u r engagem ent w ith g loba l forces, a n d how they have changed over th e las t decade o r so. I t ends w ith suggestions fo r fu tu re research.