Paradigmatic Change in Social Science

The social sciences have largely ignored the fact that human societies depend on the biophysical environment for their survival. The neglect of such a fundamental issue seems attributable primarily to two interrelated facts: First, the social sciences have roots in anthropocentric Western thought, wherein humans are viewed as separate from and &dquo;above&dquo; the rest of nature (White, 1967); and second, these disciplines developed during an era of abnormal abundance when ecological constraints were not salient