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Attention to the relationship between nature and society has been a defining feature of environmental sociology since its inception. Early research, incorporating insights from ecology, argued for the need to (1) theorize the causal connections between nature and society and (2) contextualize those connections in terms of biophysical limits resulting from resource scarcity. Over the past two decades, partly in response to new forms of existential threat such as climate change, the treatment of nature and society as distinct entities has given way to a focus on socio‐natural assemblages. Using the Anthropocene as a lens to explore this emerging view, it is argued (1) that current theorizing on the socio‐natural assemblage needs to pay more attention to the issues of temporality and complexity, (2) that taking these factors into account reconceptualizes the nature‐society relationship as a complex, evolving socio‐natural assemblage, (3) that this evolutionary process needs to be understood in the context of cosmic evolution and the tension between entropy and the emergence of local complexity, and (4) that constraints on human development arise from the tension between these two tendencies, not from resource scarcity. An environmental sociology for the Anthropocene, one based on assumptions about the nature of causal dynamics and context consistent with our understanding of current earth system science, is proposed.L'attention portée à la relation entre la nature et la société a été un trait caractéristique de la sociologie de l'environnement depuis sa création. La recherche initiale, intégrant les connaissances de l'écologie, a soutenu la nécessité de (1) théoriser les liens causaux entre la nature et la société et (2) contextualiser ces connexions en termes de limites biophysiques résultant de la pénurie de ressources. Au cours des deux derniéres décennies, en partie en réponse à de nouvelles formes de menace existentielle telles que le changement climatique, le traitement de la nature et de la société en tant qu'entités distinctes a fait place à un accent sur les assemblages socio‐naturels. En utilisant l'anthropocéne comme une lentille pour explorer ce point de vue émergeant, on fait valoir (1) que la théorisation actuelle sur l'assemblage socio‐naturel doit accorder plus d'attention aux questions de temporalité et de complexité, (2) que prendre ces facteurs en compte reconceptualise la relation entre la nature et la société en tant qu'assemblage socio‐naturel complexe et en évolution, (3) que ce processus évolutif doit être compris dans le contexte de l'évolution cosmique et de la tension entre entropie et émergence de la complexité locale, et (4) sur le développement humain découlent de la tension entre ces deux tendances, et non de la pénurie de ressources. Une sociologie de l'environnement pour l'anthropocéne, fondée sur des hypothéses sur la nature de la dynamique causale et du contexte compatible avec notre compréhension de la science actuelle du systéme terrestre, est proposée.

Barack Obama et Sarah Palin sont tous les deux souvent étiquetés en tant que charismatique par le public. Pour évaluer si oui ou non, Obama et Palin démontrent une forme de charisme tel que définit par Weber, leurs rhétoriques et leurs actions sont examinées dans le contexte d'élections passées et dans celui où règne une stagnation politique mise en scène par la guerre des cultures. Là où la connexion entre Palin et le public émerge de son rôle de défenderesse dans la guerre des cultures, Obama a articulée une vision d'une communauté partagée, et se faisant, a réorganisé l'électorat en incorporant dans sa coalition la jeunesse désenchantée qui n'avait pas voté durant les dix dernières années.Both Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are commonly labeled "charismatic" by the public. To assess whether or not Obama and Palin exhibit charisma in the Weberian sense, their rhetoric and actions are examined in the context of past elections and the political stagnation brought about by the politics of the culture wars. Where Palin's connection with the public flows from her role as a fighter in the culture wars, Obama articulated a vision of shared community and, in doing so, reorganized the electorate by incorporating disenchanted youth who had not voted over the past decade into his coalition. Thus, in Weberian terms, only Obama manifests charisma.

Le lien entre l'image et l'idéologie est un des thèmes les plus étudiés en sociologie visuelle. Il existe néanmoins une sérieuse lacune dans notre compréhension des procédés visuels auxquels on a recours pour créer une idéologie. Cet article, au moyen d'une analyse du rôle de la juxtaposition et de l'enchaînement visuels dans la publication gouvernementale britannique The Colonies in Pictures, atteste un mécanisme jusqu'ici ignoré dans la formation de l'idéologie. Je soutiens que la publication reconstruit une idéologie coloniale britannique en faisant passer de l'ethnicitéà la culture le marqueur utilisé pour distinguer le britannique du non‐britannique. Une telle reconstruction avait été rendue nécessaire en raison du contexte historique qui a suivi la Deuxième Guerre mondiale et a permis aux Britanniques de conserver une main‐mise sur l'économie des colonies tout en leur accordant une autonomie politique.The connection between image and ideology is one of the most analysed themes in visual sociology. Despite this, there exists a serious omission in our understanding of the visual processes used to create ideology. This article, through the analysis of the role of visual juxtaposition and sequencing in the British government publication The Colonies in Pictures, documents a previously ignored mechanism for ideology formation. I argue that the publication reconstructs British colonial ideology by shifting the marker used to distinguish between British and non‐British from ethnicity to culture. Such a reconstruction was necessitated by the historical circumstances following World War II and enabled the British to retain economic control over the colonies while granting political autonomy.

The resource estimates of M. King Hubbert, and the method he used to generate these estimates, are described. When Hubbert made his first estimate it reflected the consensus of opinion within the industry. The conclusions he drew about the future of the US oil industry, however, contradicted the conventional wisdom within both industry and government. His estimates were criticized and rejected, and a number of markedly higher estimates soon appeared. In 1974, the political economy of the oil industry changed, government and industry estimates fell, and consensus of opinion returned. Since Hubbert's methods and estimates remained constant throughout the period 1956-82, changes in scientific practice cannot explain the historical shifts in the treatment of his estimates as `valid', `invalid', and eventually `valid' again. Through an examination of the scientific controversies involving Hubbert's estimation technique and its results, it is argued that the `validity' of resource estimates is socially constructed through an attributional process tied to the political economy of the oil industry.

When the University of Chicago was founded in 1892 it established the first sociology department in the United States. The department grew rapidly in reputation and influence and by the 1920s graduates of its program were heading newly formed sociology programs across the country and determining the direction of the discipline and its future research. Their way of thinking about social relations revolutionized the social sciences by emphasizing an empirical approach to research, instead of the more philosophical "armchair" perspective that previously prevailed in American sociology. The Chicago School Diaspora presents work by Canadian and international scholars who identify with what they understand as the "Chicago School tradition." Broadly speaking, many of the scholars affiliated with sociology at Chicago understood human behaviour to be determined by social structures and environmental factors, rather than personal and biological characteristics. Contributors highlight key thinkers and epistemological issues associated with the Chicago School, as well as contemporary empirical research. Offering innovative theoretical explanations for the diversity and breadth of its scholarly traditions, The Chicago School Diaspora offers a fresh approach to ideas, topics, and approaches associated with the origins of North American sociology. Contributors include Michael Adorjan (University of Hong Kong, China), Gary Bowden (University of New Brunswick), Jeffrey Brown (University of New Brunswick), Tony Christensen (Wilfrid Laurier University), Luis Cisneros (postdoctoral scholar, University of Arizona), Gary A. Cook (Beloit College), Mary Jo Deegan (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), Scott Grills (Brandon University), Mervyn Horgan (Acadia University), Mark Hutter (Rowan University), Benjamin Kelly (Nipissing University), Rolf Lindner (Humboldt University & HafenCity University, Germany), Jacqueline Low (University of New Brunswick), Mourad Mjahed (Peace Corps, Rabat, Morocco), DeMond S. Miller (Rowan University), Edward Nell (New School for Social Research), David A. Nock (Lakehead University), and Defne Over (PhD candidate, Cornell University). Contributors also include George Park (Memorial University), Thomas K. Park (University of Arizona), Dorothy Pawluch (McMaster University), Robert Prus (University of Waterloo), Antony J. Puddephatt (Lakehead University), Isher-Paul Sahni (Concordia University), Roger A. Salerno (Pace University), William Shaffir (McMaster University), Greg Smith (University of Salford, UK), Robert A. Stebbins (University of Calgary), Izabela Wagner (Warsaw University, Poland and CEMS EHESS - School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, France), and Yves Winkin (ENS Lyon, France). --Provided by publisher.