Skip to main content

Environment as Determinant vs. Environment as Irrelevant? A False Dichotomy and an Alternative

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Neo-Environmental Determinism

Abstract

To say that the environment does not operate on human societies in a deterministic way is by no means to say that it does not matter for them. Geographers since the 1920s have emphasized, though, that how it matters cannot be understood apart from an understanding of the societies themselves. “Natural hazards” and “natural resources,” for example, are not natural factors external to society, but co-creations of natural and social processes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bowman, Isaiah, 1934, Geography in Relation to the Social Sciences (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons).

    Google Scholar 

  • Brager, Gail S., and Richard J. De Dear, 1998, “Thermal Adaptation in the Built Environment: A Literature Review,” Energy and Buildings 27(1), 83–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bridge, Gavin, 2009, “Material Worlds: Natural Resources, Resource Geography, and the Material Economy,” Geography Compass 3(3), 1217–1244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bridge, Gavin, 2011a, “The Economy of Nature: From Political Ecology to the Social Construction of Nature,” in Andrew Leyshon, Roger Lee, Linda McDowell, and Peter Sunley, eds., The Sage Handbook of Economic Geography (London: Sage), 217–230.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bridge, Gavin, 2011b, “Past Peak Oil: Political Economy of Energy Crises,” in Richard Peet, Paul Robbins, and Michael Watts, eds., Global Political Ecology (Abingdon: Routledge), 307–324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burton, Ian, Robert W. Kates, and Gilbert F. White, 1993, The Environment as Hazard (2nd edition) (New York: The Guilford Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Castree, Noel, 2005, Nature (Abingdon: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Febvre, Lucien, 1922, La terre et l’évolution humaine: Introduction géographique à l’histoire (Paris: Albin Michel).

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, David, 1974, “Population, Resources, and the Ideology of Science,” Economic Geography 50(3), 256–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, David, 2009, Cosmopolitanism and the Geographies of Freedom (New York: Columbia University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hitchings, Russell, 2009, “Studying Thermal Comfort in Context,” Building Research & Information 37(1), 89–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James, Preston E., 1951, “An Assessment of the Role of the Habitat as a Factor in Differential Economic Development,” American Economic Review 41(2), 229–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • James, Preston E., 1967, “Continuity and Change in American Geographic Thought,” in Saul B. Cohen, ed., Problems and Trends in American Geography (New York: Basic Books), 3–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matley, Ian M., 1966, “The Marxist Approach to the Geographical Environment,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 56(1), 97–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, William B., 2002, “Why Indoor Climates Change: A Case Study,” Climatic Change 55(3), 395–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Keefe, Phil, Ken Westgate, and Ben Wisner, 1976, “Taking the Naturalness out of Natural Disasters,” Nature 260(15 April), 566–567.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Platt, Robert S., 1948, “Environmentalism versus Geography,” American Journal of Sociology 53(5), 351–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sauer, Carl O., 1941, “Foreword to Historical Geography,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 31(1), 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sauer, Carl O., 1969, Seeds, Spades, Hearths, and Herds: The Domestication of Animals and Foodstuffs (2nd edition) (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • White, Gilbert Fowler, 1945, Human Adjustment to Floods: A Geographical Approach to the Flood Problem in the United States, Department of Geography Research Paper #29 (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Department of Geography).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wisner, Ben, Piers Blaikie, Terry Cannon, and Ian Davis, 2004, At Risk: Natural Hazards, People’s Vulnerability and Disasters (2nd edition) (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmermann, Erich W., 1951, World Resources and Industries (Revised edition) (New York: Harper & Brothers).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Meyer, W.B., Guss, D.M. (2017). Environment as Determinant vs. Environment as Irrelevant? A False Dichotomy and an Alternative. In: Neo-Environmental Determinism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54232-4_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54232-4_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-54231-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-54232-4

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics