Resumo

RUBIO CARRIQUIRIBORDE, Ignacio. A Problem of Meaning: Nature and Sociological Theory and Practice. Sociológica (Méx.) [online]. 2013, vol.28, n.79, pp.137-165. ISSN 2007-8358.

The position of sociology in the environmental debate is precarious. This is linked, among other things to a presumed foundational, epistemological break between sociological thinking and nature. It is also associated with the limiting of socio-environmental work to matters with only a tenuous relationship to debates and categories central to the discipline. This article discusses the historical evolution of sociological thinking about nature and the environment and proposes the notion of meaning as a comprehensive bridge for a fruitful and strictly speaking sociological formulation of environmental problems. Finally, it points to avenues of work where sociology becomes relevant today.

Palavras-chave : environmental sociology; sociological theory; nature; sustainability; meaning.