Sociology and ecology are often turned to in the current search for answers to two dilemmas: the crisis of paradigms within the human sciences (a product of processes of rapid yet profound changes in our present industrial society) and crises between social organizations and their surrounding physical-natural environment. The expectation that these fields will provide the answer may feed the notion that greater integration between disciplines will suffice to generate efficacious solutions to the problems underpinning these crises. On the one hand, it may seem a simple task to achieve the integration of two sciences displaying such surprising affinities. On the other, this integration can not be attained instantaneously but requires an open dialogue, where both fields are forced to make commitments and compromises and to exchange experiences.
ecology; environmental sociology; interdisciplinary integration