Author : Ken Cole
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134715927
Total Pages : 318 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (347 download)
Book Synopsis Economy-Environment-Development-Knowledge by : Ken Cole
Download or read book Economy-Environment-Development-Knowledge written by Ken Cole and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-01-04 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As we approach the end of the second millennium, we find ourselves in times of radical social change. Orthodox explanations of the economy, the environment and the development process are unable to provide coherent policies for such issues as employment creation, environmental degradation and social progress. Economy-Environment-Development-Knowledge provides alternative perspectives on these fundamental aspects of human existence. Economists, environmentalists, and development theorists have so far been unable to agree on the most successful prescriptions to address problems. To understand, contrast and compare alternative understandings of economic, environmental and development issues, we need to be aware why theorists conceptualise the process of social experience so differently. Part 1 of Economy-Environment-Development-Knowledge addresses the subjective preference, cost-of-production and abstract labour theories of values in economics; Part 2 explains egocentrism, ecocentrism and socioecocentrism as competing theoretical perspectives in environmental theory; Part 3 highlights modernisation theory, structuralist theory and class struggle as ways to account for the process of development and Part 4 examines the generation of knowedge through positivism, paradigms and praxis, legitimating competing perspectives in economics, environmentalist and development. The book concludes by considering why different people find alternative explanations more or less plausible. By addressing the disagreements between theorists, Economy-Environment-Development-Knowledge provides a unique basis to contrast and compare the plethora of theories of, and policies for, economic prosperity, environmental sustainability and social progress.