Toward a fusion of two lines of thought: creating convergence between Aldo Leopold and sociology through the community concept

摘要

titleAbstract/titlepAldo Leopold made great contributions to our understanding of the interconnections between people and their environments, and community is central to his best-known work. The social dimensions of the land-community concept were not his focus, however, and subsequent research on Leopold has not emphasized such issues. Community was foundational to sociology, and while the concept faded from prominence during the significant social change of the post-war era, some scholars in the field continue to debate its meaning and salience more than 130 years later. They generally do not discuss Leopold, though, and the “fusion” of ecological and sociological thought that he desired remains elusive. I propose a convergence via the integrative landscape interactional field extension of community. The goal is to revitalize the community concept and strengthen the connection between ecological and sociological research, while helping us better understand the reality of humans and their environments—how we live and italicmight/italic live in particular places./p