Presented by,

Sameena M.SUGC Junior Research Fellow,Dept. of SociologySree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit,Kalady, Kerala, India

Amos Henry Hawley (1910-2009)American SociologistEducated from the University of Cincinnati & MichiganMajor figure in Human EcologyFocus on human interaction with their changing environment along with population growth

Influenced by McKenzie who was mentored by Park & BurgessInfluence of Chicago school of thought in early worksFocus on spatial distributions in urban environmentBio-ecologists- variation, adaptation & selectionFocus shifted to change, structure & functioning of the social system

The study of interrelationship between individuals, social groups, and their social environments ( Oxford Dictionary of Sociology)Plant and animal ecology- emphasis on physical environment

Animal

Plant Human

Human Ecology: A Theory of Community Structure (1950)Key idea: Adaptation to social & physical environment was a collective phenomenon for humans accomplished through social organizationOrganization can grow and evolveFelt a need for a unified theory

Most important workTook the perspective of collective life from plant and animal ecology- The competitive and evolutionary mechanisms determining the distribution of species in physical environmentMacro sociological perspective, focus on change in social, physical and technological environment3 General propositions/ postulates

1. Adaptation2. Growth3. Evolution

1. Adaptation occurs through the formation of interdependencies among the units in population2. The system development continues until it reaches the upper limit that can be sustained by the environment, given a certain technology for communication and transportation3. When systems acquire new information or technology, the processes in the first 2 propositions is resumed until a new equilibrium is reached

Basic processes of ecology: Collective organizing expansive quality of social groups in a restricted but ever changing environmentThe crowding of organisms subsisting upon limited resources results in competitionChange: an irreversible shift in the pattern of relationships among the units in a population

Later focus shifted from competition to adaptationEnvironmental variations over time

technology

Role of technology in limiting internal adaptation to an environment, expand the type of collective organization & allow people to grow

Ignored human agencyEmphasis on large scale long-term changes in response to impersonal structural forces

First Human ecologist emphasizing the importance of culture in shaping the human ecological systemExplained everything in terms of population, organization and environmentHawley, a dedicated macro sociologist!!!