The construction of the term nature involves different areas of knowledge and has been the object of inquiry of both natural and social sciences. The knowledge produced under the auspices of this concept falls into several categories that can be studied from the perspective of the social sciences. This paper intends to analyze some of these approaches, and to establish their relationships to the new social practices that are determining new forms of intervention in nature. The purpose of this analysis is to question some of the assumptions of the social sciences in this respect, as generators of knowledge on the matter. The substitution of nature by the term environment is also taken into account as well as the irruption of sustainable development, thus completing the conceptual scenario that takes over the issues of nature-society relations, from the view of the social sciences.
nature; social sciences; nature-society relations; environment; sustainable development