Social Sustainability, Past and Future: Undoing Unintended Consequences for the Earth's Survival

Sander van der Leeuw

doi:10.1017/9781108595247

In this book, Sander Van der Leeuw examines how the modern world has been caught in a socio-economic dynamic that has generated the conundrum of sustainability. Combining the methods of social science and complex systems science, he explores how western, developed nations have globalized their world view and how that view has led to the sustainability challenges we are now facing. Its central theme is the co-evolution of cognition, demography, social organization, technology and environmental impact. Beginning with the earliest human societies, Van der Leeuw links the distant past with the present in order to demonstrate how the information and communications technology revolution is undermining many of the institutional pillars on which contemporary societies have been constructed. An original view of social evolution as the history of human information-processing, his book shows how the past offers insight into the present, and can help us deal with the future. This title is also available as Open Access.

‘… an unequivocally masterful and absolutely brilliant description of dynamically complex and correlated cultural milieus and environmental systems as a cautionary tale for the ages.’

R. G. Mendoza Source: Choice

- Aa Reduce text
- Aa Enlarge text

View selected items
Save to my bookmarks
Export citations
Download PDF (zip)
Save to Kindle
Save to Dropbox
Save to Google Drive
Save content to
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to .

To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Please be advised that item(s) you selected are not available.
You are about to save
Your Kindle email address

Please provide your Kindle email.

@free.kindle.com @kindle.com (service fees apply)

By using this service, you agree that you will only keep content for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services

Full book PDF

Page 1 of 2

First
« Prev
1
2
Next »
Last

Contents

Social Sustainability, Past and Future
pp i-i
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

New Directions in Sustainability and Society - Series page
pp ii-ii
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

Social Sustainability, Past and Future - Title page
pp iii-iii
Undoing Unintended Consequences for the Earth’s Survival
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

Copyright page
pp iv-iv
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

Dedication
pp v-vi
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

Contents
pp vii-xii
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

Note on the Cover Art
pp vi-vi
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

Preface
pp xiii-xvi
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

Part I
pp 1-118
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

1 - How This Book Came About, What It Is, and What It Is Not
pp 3-14
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

2 - Defining the Challenge
pp 15-29
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

3 - Science and Society
pp 30-49
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

4 - Transdisciplinary For and Against
pp 50-66
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

5 - The Importance of a Long-Term Perspective
pp 67-78
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

6 - Looking Forward to the Future
pp 79-99
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

7 - The Role of the Complex (Adaptive) Systems Approach
pp 100-118
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

Part II
pp 119-284
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

8 - An Outline of Human Socioenvironmental Coevolution
pp 121-143
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

9 - Social Systems as Self-Organizing, Dissipative Information-Flow Structures
pp 144-156
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

10 - Solutions Always Cause Problems
pp 157-179
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

11 - Transitions in the Organization of Human Societies
pp 180-212
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

12 - Novelty, Invention, Change
pp 213-236
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

13 - An Illustration of the Invention Process and Its Implications for Societal Information Processing
pp 237-262
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

14 - Modeling the Dynamics of Socioenvironmental Transitions
pp 263-284
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

Part III
pp 285-463
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

15 - The Rise of the West as a Globally Powered Flow Structure
pp 287-303
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

16 - Are We Reaching a Global Societal “Tipping Point”?
pp 304-338
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

17 - Not an Ordinary Tipping Point
pp 339-361
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

18 - Our Fragmenting World
pp 362-388
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

19 - Is There a Way Out?
pp 389-409
- - You have access
  - Open access
- PDF
- HTML
- Export citation

Page 1 of 2

First
« Prev
1
2
Next »
Last

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Total number of HTML views: 0

Total number of PDF views: 0 *

Loading metrics...

Total views: 0 *

Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

Social Sustainability, Past and Future

Undoing Unintended Consequences for the Earth's Survival

Book description

Reviews

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Save Search

Contents

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Book summary page views

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

Accessibility Information