Social Ecology?

Greetings,

So I may get laughed out of this group, but I was wondering what people thought of Social Ecology and/or the work of Murray Bookchin? I guess he's fairly controversial. I am wondering if there are any sympathizers here? I've been reading some of his stuff, lately, and it makes a lot of sense to me.

Anyway, I'd just be interested to know what the thoughts are of those here. If there are any links or resources you would like to share, please do.

I have been reading from the "Learn" section on the Institute for Social Ecology (www.social-ecology.org), the Communalism site (www.communalism.org), and some of the articles written about Bookchin after his passing in 2006.

Regards!

I personally respect Bookchin for his contribution to environmentalism. He spoke out when many others denied or were unaware of the dangers facing the planet.

His work on the other hand, which I am vaguely familiar with, doesn't impress me too much. I disagree with his notions of what the causes of environmental threats are.

I have briefly stumbled across some of his Anarchist theories which are pretty interesting.

Why would you be laughed off the group? We all have our own opinions comrade.

Cheers for the links too. I will have a better look at them when I have time.

Been reading a book that had a couple of pages on this. From what i gather it is to anarachism what ecosocialism is to marxist socialism. Theres not too much more I can say about it as I don't have enough knowledge on it

Thanks for the replies Green Socialist and bellyscratch. I mentioned "being laughed out of this group," because in my circles Bookchin and anything connected with him is not just controversial, but dismissed completely (along with anyone that would try to advocate it).

I will admit that I'm fairly new to the whole social ecology arena. Right now I'm working my way through "Post Scarcity Anarchism" and "Social Ecology and Communalism" (both by Murray Bookchin) -- and what I'm finding is very exciting. He takes from marxism without being a marxist (though he was for many years) and brings a modern analysis to capitalism that, in my view, really gives us something substantive to begin working with to build a movement for its overthrow.

Bookchin argues that the true limits of capitalism are ecological, and that capitalism won't stop until the entire world is totally plundered. Waiting for this to take its course would not leave us with anything left to enjoy, and possibly leave us unable to live. Therefore, the imperative for the overthrow of capitalism is ecological. To me, this makes so much sense, considering the current state of the world.

He also suggests that capitalism was a logical extension of class and hierarchy (class being primarily an economic division, where hierarchy can be through blood, gender, age, etc.), and must be overthrown, as well.

In addition, he maintained that our relationship with the planet and our conception of dominating nature arose out of, and is a reflection of, our relationships with each other (currently class and hierarchy based). Therefore, to create an ecological society, we must redefine our relationships with each other (eliminating hierarchy and class divisions -- the anarchist aspect of his thought), and through this, a truly ecological society can be established.

What excites me is that:

1) it analyzes our modern, advanced capitalist society in a frank way and determines what was correct and incorrect about theory written before capitalism came to such an advanced stage,

2) it provides a foundation for understanding of modern capitalism and the issues around which to build a real movement,

3) it has the potential to be a thread which runs across many ideological tendencies that might be able to agree with the premises and unite effectively to oppose capitalism,

4) it's a positive alternative to nihilistic tendencies like primitivism, with a potential to not be just another marginal ideology (after all, everyone is impacted by a degraded environment).

Yes, I'm an anarchist (in the Kropotkin, anarchist-communist tradition), but there seems to be exciting things here for a wide variety of tendencies, especially those less orthodox marxists and those communists that actually want to see true communism (i.e. stateless, classless society) realized.

Of course, Bookchin said quite a bit (he wrote from the 50s until his death in 2006), some of which can be controversial to many -- anarchists and marxists alike. True, as well, he often seems to come off as pompous, but I am not a "Bookchinite." I take the ideas wherever I can find them and use them to (hopefully) create a better world. Is there anyone here interested in these ideas? If so, I would love to continue discussing them. We could also form some kind of study group around these ideas that might lead to some real-world movement building.

Let me know. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts. Thanks for reading!

Yes, destructicon500, I would definitely recommend Post Scarcity Anarchism and Social Ecology and Communalism. Both are great introductions to his work. Both are collections of essays, many (if not all) of which can probably be found online. Check the Anarchy Archives (the one at Pitzer, hosted by Dana Ward), and the Institute for Social Ecology's "learn" section (http://www.social-ecology.org/static...online_library).

I've been talking to a few of the people there, and they're getting ready to relaunch the ISE website. The new one looks awesome. I think this coincides well with the resurgence of interest in social ecology among radicals.

I will say that Social Ecology and Communalism was perhaps the last work Bookchin did before he passed away in 2006, so this is after his break with anarchism. Some of things he says are critical of anarchism, so be forewarned. However, the ideas are still great, particularly about social ecology. If you're not familiar, I could explain a bit about Bookchin's break with anarchism, either here or through a PM. It's a bit complex.

Edit: P.S. Thanks for the author references, Greenman. I will look into them. Would anyone be interested in studying some of Bookchin's works with me? It wouldn't have to be too intensive, as many of his works are simply collections of essays that can be fairly brief.

Thanks for reading.

Greetings everyone,

I just wanted to take this opportunity to post here that I have started a social ecology user group, in which I hope to have active discussion around the body of thought known as social ecology. I believe many people in this group would be interested in something like this. The hope is for it to be a serious tool to gain a more developed understanding, and further the analysis of, social ecology.

In addition, I look forward to contributing to the discussion of this group from a general social ecological perspective. My hope is to engage with other "ecosocialist" bodies of thought in a way that can be mutually beneficial and strengthening.

That being said, if anyone would like to discuss social ecology or anything related, feel free to message me, join the user group, or get active here. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to our future discussions!