Inspiring read for WTF Society
“Social ecology claims that society is an extension of nature–it is not pitted against nature in any deterministic way. The common trope that says selfishness is “just human nature” while interde-pendence and cooperation go “against human nature” is, in fact, irrational. Social ecologists draw from anthropological evidence which recognizes that mutual aid, cooperation, and empathy were present in early human groups, that these values were reinforced by their communities, and contributed heavily to their survival. Though our current societal plight (a social world predicated on exploitation, individualism, and competition) is unsustainable, we are not necessarily doomed to a future characterized by this irrationality. Bookchin describes humanity’s relationship to nature in Nature, First and Second: “Social life does not necessarily face nature as a combatant in an unrelenting war. The emergence of society is a natural fact that has its origins in the biology of human socialization.”
Social Ecology Pamphlet Emily McGuire(1)