Reviews for The natural and the social

The average rating for The natural and the social based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-01-06 00:00:00 Eric Corner read this as part of DD100 An introduction to the social sciences: understanding social change

Review # 2 was written on 2016-12-14 00:00:00 Tina Jones This collection is very good at dispelling unproductive or even reactionary aspects of anarchism (deep ecology, disjointed theory, and what he calls "lifestyle anarchism") and it contains a number of terms that are useful when trying to think about how society might become more ecological. Where it falls apart is when Bookchin turns to Marxism. His fundamental misunderstanding of what the terms "proletariate" and "bourgeoisie" mean makes for an incredibly frustrating thread of Bookchin's thought. He also disparages poststructural thinkers with an obvious lack of knowledge about their work. Both of these misunderstandings make sense considering the often unproductive or reactionary work of academics that have used the banners of Marxism and Poststructuralism in the past, however in rejecting Marx's fundamental tension or the insights of how meaning is made offered by poststructuralists his theory loses a lot. I need to read some Hegel to understand a lot of what he's saying in the more philosophical sections, something I think it'll take me a while to feel up to. His insights into society as an ecological and historical formation are incredibly valuable, but his theoretical and practical shortcomings leave me incredibly frustrated about how to go about bringing such an ecological society into being.