Skip to main content
Log in

Human ecology: A unifying science?

  • Published:
Human Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A historical review of human ecology as it developed in geography, anthropology, sociology, and psychology indicates that this science's ambiguity has been perpetuated by the reluctance of academicians in specialized disciplines to work collaboratively. While human ecology is considered a unifying science, few attempts have been made to reconcile differences among disciplinary self-interests, thereby preventing interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary man-environment problem solving. Human ecology will remain a debatable, ambiguous, and fragmented science unless present barriers to cooperative effort are overcome and the various disciplines unite in seeking solutions to current societal problems.

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

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alihan, M. A. (1938).Social Ecology: A Critical Analysis, Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alland, A. (1969). Ecology and adaptation to parasitic diseases. In Vayda, A. P. (ed.),Environment and Cultural Behavior, Natural History Press, Garden City, N.Y.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, N. (1923).The Hobo, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, N. (1940).Men on the Move, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barker, R. G. (1965). Explorations in ecological psychology.Am. Psychologist 20: 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnes, H. E. (ed.) (1925).Regionalism in America, Knopf, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrows, H. (1923). Geography as human ecology.Ann. Ass. Am. Geographers 13: 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berry, B. J. L., and Horton, F. E. (eds.) (1969).Geographic Perspectives on Urban Systems, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berry, B. J. L., and Rees, P. H. (1969). The factorial ecology of Calcutta.Am. J. Sociol. 74: 445–491.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumenthal, A. (1931).Small Town Stuff, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bogue, D. J. (1969).Principles of Demography. Wiley, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Booth, C. (1902, orig. 1891).Life and Labour of the People of London, Macmillan, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boulding, K. E. (1968). General systems theory-the skeleton of science. In Buckley, W. (ed.),Modern Systems Research for the Behavioral Scientist: A Sourcebook, Aldine, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Branford, V. (1915).The Regional Survey as a Method of Social Study, Holywell Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bresler, J. B. (1966).Human Ecology, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruhn, J. G. (1970). Human ecology in medicine.Environ. Res. 3: 37–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruhn, J. G. (1971). Ecological responsibility in sociology.Sociol. Quart. 12: 77–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunhes, J. (1920).Human Geography (transl. and ed. by Isaiah Bowman and Ellwood Dood), Rand McNally, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burgess, E. W. (ed.) (1926).The Urban Community, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, D. T. (1969). Ethnocentrism of disciplines and the fish-scale model of omni-science. In Sherif, M., and Sherif, C. W. (eds.),Interdisciplinary Relationships in the Social Sciences, Aldine, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr-Saunders, A. M. (1922).The Population Problem, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cartwright, D. (ed.) (1951).Field Theory in Social Science: Selected Theoretical Papers by Kurt Lewin, Harper & Row, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavan, R. S. (1928).Suicide, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Childe, V. G. (1953). Old World prehistory: Neolithic. In Kroeber, A. L. (ed.),Anthropology Today, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Churchman, C. W. (1968).The Systems Approach, Dell, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craik, K. H. (1968). The comprehension of the everyday physical environment.J. Am. Inst. Planners 34: 29–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cressey, P. G. (1932).The Taxi Dance-Hall, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creutzberg, N. (1933).Kultur im Spiegel der Landschaft: Das Bild der Erde in seiner Gestaltung durch den Menschen. Ein Bilderatlas, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crist, R. E. (1969). Human geography and neighboring disciplines. In Sherif, M., and Sherif, C. W. (eds.),Interdisciplinary Relationships in the Social Sciences, Aldine, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darling, F. F. (1955). Pastoralism in relation to population of men and animals. In Cragg, J. G., and Pirie, N. W. (eds.),The Numbers of Men and Animals, Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, C. (1873).The Origin of Species by Natural Selection, D. Appleton, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawson, C. A. (1934). The sources and methods of human ecology. In Bernard, L. L. (ed.),The Fields and Methods of Sociology, Farrar and Rinehart, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Detwyler, T. R. (ed.) (1971).Man's Impact on Environment, McGraw-Hill, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch, M. (1954). Field theory in social psychology. In Lindzey, G. (ed.),Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. 1, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donovan, F. R. (1920).The Woman Who Waits, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donovan. F. R. (1930).The Saleslady, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donovan, F. R. (1938).The Schoolma'am, Stokes, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dubos, R. (1970).Reason Awake: Science for Man, Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, O. D. (1964). Social organization and ecosystem. In Faris, R. E. L. (ed.),Handbook of Modern Sociology, Rand McNally, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich, P. R., and Ehrlich, A. H. (1970).Population Resources Environment: Issues in Human Ecology, W. H. Freeman, San Francisco.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eyre, S. R., and Jones, G. R. (eds.) (1966).Geography as Human Ecology: Methodology by Example, Arnold, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faris, R. E. L., and Dunham, H. W. (1939).Mental Disorders in Urban Areas, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forde, C. D. (1934).Habitat, Economy and Society: A Geographical Introduction to Ethnology, Dutton, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frazier, E. F. (1932).The Negro Family in Chicago, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, T. W. (1961).A Hundred Years of Geography, G. Duckworth, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedrich, E. (1904). Wesen und geographische Verbreitung der “Raubwirtschaft.”Petermans Mitteil. 50: 68–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galpin, C. J. (1915).The Social Anatomy of an Agricultural Community, Bulletin No. 34, Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geddes, P. (1924). Mapping of life.Sociol. Rev. 16: 193–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs, J., and Davis, K. (1958). Conventional versus metropolitan data in the international study of urbanization.Am. Sociol. Rev. 23: 503–514.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs, J., and Martin, W. (1958). Urbanization and natural resources: A study in organizational ecology.Am. Sociol. Rev. 23: 266–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, J. E. (1958). Medical ecology and the public health.Am. J. Med. Sci. 235: 337–359.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, E. T. (1959).The Silent Language, Doubleday, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, E. T. (1963). A system for the notation of proxemic behavior.Am. Anthropologist 65: 1003–1026.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, E. T. (1966).The Hidden Dimension, Doubleday, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, R. B. (1935). The geographic region: A résumé.Ann. Ass. Am. Geographers 25: 122–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, M. (1968).The Rise of Anthropological Theory, Crowell, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hauser, P. M. (1956). Ecological aspects of urban research. In White, L. D. (ed.),The State of the Social Sciences, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawley, A. H. (1950).Human Ecology, Ronald, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawley, A. H. (ed.) (1968).Roderick D. McKenzie on Human Ecology, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayner, N. S. (1936).Hotel Life, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helm, J. (1962). The ecological approach in anthropology.Am. J. Sociol. 67: 630–639.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herskovits, M. J. (1925). Social pattern: A methodological study.Soc. Forces 4: 57–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollingshead, A. B. (1947). A re-examination of ecological theory.Sociol. Soc. Res. 31: 194–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knight, C. B. (1965).Basic Concepts of Ecology, Macmillan, New York, p. 8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kroeber, A. L. (ed.) (1925).Handbook of the Indians in California, Bulletin No. 78, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kroeber, A. L. (1939).Cultural and Natural Areas of Native North America, University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, R. B. (1969). !Kung bushman subsistence: An input-output analysis. In Vayda, A. P. (ed.),Environment and Cultural Behavior, Natural History Press, Garden City, N.Y.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leeds, A. (1969). Ecological determinants of chieftainship among the Yaruro Indians of Venezuela. In Vayda, A. P. (ed.),Environment and Cultural Behavior, Natural History Press, Garden City, N.Y.

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Play, F. (1864).La Réforme Social en France, 3 Vols., H. Plan, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, K. (1960).The Image of the City, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynd, R. S., and Lynd, H. M. (1929).Middletown: A Study of Contemporary American Culture, Harcourt, Brace, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynd, R. S., and Lynd, H. M. (1937).Middletown in Transition, Harcourt, Brace, New York.

  • Margalef, R. (1963). On certain unifying principles in ecology.Am. Naturalist 97: 357–374.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayhew, H. (1851).London Labour and the London Poor, 4 Vols., Charles Griffin, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • McClenahan, B. A. (1929).The Changing Urban Neighborhood: A Sociological Study, Social Science Series No. 1, Semicentennial Publications of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKenzie, R. D. (1924). An ecological approach to the study of the human community.Am. J. Sociol. 30: 287–301.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKenzie, R. D. (1933).The Metropolitan Community, McGraw-Hill, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michaelson, W. H. (1970).Man and His Urban Environment, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mikesell, M. W. (1969). The borderlands of geography as a social science. In Sherif, M., and Sherif, C. W. (eds.),Interdisciplinary Relationships in the Social Sciences, Aldine, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milgram, S. (1970). The experience of living in cities.Science 167: 1461–1468.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukerjee, R. (1926).Regional Sociology, Century, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukerjee, R. (1930a). Regional balance of man.Am. J. Sociol. 36: 455–460.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukerjee, R. (1930b). Ecological contributions to sociology.Sociol. Rev. 22: 281–291.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukerjee, R. (1931). The processes of regional balance.Sociol. Rev. 23: 173–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukerjee, R. (1932). The ecological outlook in sociology.Am. J. Sociol. 38: 349–355.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukerjee, R. (1933). Ecological unbalance in man.Sociol. Rev. 25: 233–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukerjee, R. (1945).Social Ecology, Longmans, Green, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nietschmann, B. (1972). Hunting and fishing focus among the Miskito Indians, eastern Nicaragua.Hum. Ecol. 1: 41–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Odum, E. P. (1971).Fundamentals of Ecology, 3rd ed., W. B. Saunders, Philadelphia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Odum, H. W., and Moore, H. E. (1938).American Regionalism, Holt, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palen, J. J., and Flaming, K. H. (eds.) (1972).Urban America: Conflict and Change, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Park, R. E. (1925). “The city: Suggestions for the investigation of human behavior in the city environment. In Park, R. E., Burgess, E. W., and McKenzie, R. D. (eds.),The City, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Park, R. E. (1929). Urbanization as measured by newspaper circulation.Am. J. Sociol. 35: 60–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Park, R. E., Burgess, E. W., and McKenzie, R. D. (1925).The City, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polgar, S. (1962). Health and human behavior: Areas of interest common to the social and medical sciences.Curr. Anthropol. 3: 159–205.

    Google Scholar 

  • Proshansky, H. M., Ittelson, W. H., and Rivlin, L. G. (eds.) (1970).Environmental Psychology: Man and His Environment, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, J. A. (1934). Ecological versus social interaction.Sociol. Soc. Res. 18: 565–570.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, J. A. (1940). Topical summary of current literature on human ecology.Am. J. Sociol. 46: 191–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, J. A. (1950).Human Ecology, Prentice-Hall, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rappaport, R. A. (1971). The flow of energy in an agricultural society.Sci. Am. 224: 117–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratzel, F. (1899, orig. 1882).Anthropogeographie, 2 Vols., J. Engelhorn, Stuttgart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reckless, W. C. (1933).Vice in Chicago, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Redfield, R. (1929). The regional aspect of culture.Publ. Am. Sociol. Soc. 23: 33–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Redfield, R. (1930).Tepoztlán, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reiss, A. J. (ed.) (1964).Louis Wirth on Cities and Social Life, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ritter, K. (1863, orig. 1822–1859).Geographical Studies (transl. by W. Gage), Gould & Lincoln, Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, E. S. (1962). Man, ecology and the control of disease.Publ. Health Rep. 77: 755–762.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sauer, C. O. (1963).Land and Life, University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmid, C. F. (1928).Suicides in Seattle, 1914–1915: An Ecological and Behavioristic Study, University of Washington Press, Seattle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmid, C. F. (1933). Suicides in Minneapolis, Minnesota 1928–1932.Am. J. Sociol. 39: 30–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schnore, L. (1958). Social morphology and human ecology.Am. J. Sociol. 63: 620–634.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schnore, L. (1963). The socio-economic status of cities and suburbs.Am. Sociol. Rev. 28: 76–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultze-Naumberg, P. (1928).Die Gestaltung der Landschaft durch den Menschen, Vol. 3, Georg D. W. Callwey Verlag, Munich.

    Google Scholar 

  • Semple, E. C. (1899). The development of the Hanse towns in relation to their geographical environment.Bull. Am. Geog. Soc. 31: No. 3.

  • Semple, E. C. (1903).American History and Geographic Conditions, Houghton-Mifflin, Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, C. R. (1922). How railroads adapt themselves to national conditions.Proc. Acad. Pol. Sci. 10: 97–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, C. R. (1930).The Jack Roller, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shevky, E., and Williams, M. (1949).The Social Areas of Los Angeles: Analysis and Typology, University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, T. V., and White, L. D. (eds.) (1929).Chicago: An Experiment in Social Science Research, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sommer, R. (1959). Studies in personal space.Sociometry 22: 247–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sommer, R. (1961). Leadership and group geography.Sociometry 24: 99–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sommer, R. (1965). Further studies of small group ecology.Sociometry 28: 337–348.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steward, J. (1936). Economic and social basis of primitive bands. In Lowie, R. (ed.),Essays in Anthropology, University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland, E. H. (1937).The Professional Thief, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tatham, G. (1965). In Taylor, G. (ed.),Geography in the Twentieth Century, Methuen, London, pp. 56–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, W. P. (1936). What is ecology and what good is it?Ecology 17: 333–346.

    Google Scholar 

  • Theodorson, G. A. (ed.) (1961).Studies in Human Ecology, Harper & Row, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, F. (1925).The Environmental Basis of Society, Century, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thrasher, F. (1927).The Gang, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varenius, B. (1650).Geographia Generalis, Elsevier, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vayda, A. P. (1961). Expansion and warfare among swidden agriculturalists.Am. Anthropologist 63: 346–358.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vayda, A. P. (1970). Maoris and muskets in New Zealand: Disruption of a war system.Pol. Sci. Quart. 85: 580–584.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vayda, A. P., and Rappaport, R. A. (1968). Ecology, cultural and noncultural. In Clifton, J. A. (ed.),Introduction to Cultural Anthropology: Essays in the Scope and Methods of the Science of Man, Houghton-Mifflin, Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Venturino, A. (1929).Sociológia Chilena, Vol. 3, Editorial Cervantes, Barcelona.

  • Vidal de la Blache, P. M. J. (1926).Principles of Human Geography (transl. by Millicent Todd Bingham and ed. by Emmanuel de Martonne), Holt, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Humboldt, A. (1849).Aspects of Nature in Different Lands and Different Climates with Scientific Elucidations (transl. from French by Mrs. Sabine), Lea & Blanchard, Philadelphia.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Thünen, J. H. (1910).Der isolierte Staat in Beziehung auf Landwirtschaft und National-okonomie, 3 Vols., Fischer, Jena. (Available in English asIsolated State, ed. by P. Hall, Pergamon Press, London, 1965).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, P. L. (1960).The Human Use of the Earth, Free Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, L. (1949).The Science of Culture: A Study of Man and Civilization, Farrar and Strauss, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, L. (1959).The Evolution of Culture, McGraw-Hill, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willey, G. R. (1953). Archeological theories and interpretation: New World. In Kroeber, A. L. (ed.),Anthropology Today, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wirth, L. (1928).The Ghetto, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wirth, L. (1938). Urbanism as a way of life.Am. J. Sociol. 44: 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wirth, L. (ed.) (1940).Eleven Twenty Six: A Decade of Social Science Research, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wirth, L. (1945). Human ecology.Am. J. Sociol 50: 483–488.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wissler, C. (1923).Man and Culture, Crowell, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wissler, C. (1927).North American Indians of the Plains, 3rd ed., Handbook Series No. 1, American Museum of Natural History, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wissler, C. (1929).An Introduction to Social Anthropology, Holt, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wittfogel, K. A. (1956). The hydraulic civilizations. In Thomas, W. L. (ed.),Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wohlwill, J. F. (1970). The emerging discipline of environmental psychology.Am. Psychologist 25: 303–312.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, H. F., and Barker, R. G. (1950).Methods in psychological ecology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Ks.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, K., Gillin, J. L., and Dedrick, C. L. (1934).The Madison Community, University of Wisconsin Studies in the Social Sciences and History, No. 21, Madison, Wis.

  • Zorbaugh, H. W. (1929).The Gold Coast and the Slum, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bruhn, J.G. Human ecology: A unifying science?. Hum Ecol 2, 105–125 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01558116

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01558116

Keywords

Navigation