Social Ecology in Literary Theory: Murray Bookchin, Ecocriticism, and Ecological Literary Criticism

Social Ecology in Literary Theory: Murray Bookchin, Ecocriticism, and Ecological Literary Criticism

Social ecology is an ecological, philosophical, and ethical framework developed by Murray Bookchin during the 1960s that explains ecological crises through the historical emergence of hierarchy and domination within human societies rather than through humanity's existence itself. Rejecting both anthropocentric narratives that justify the domination of nature and ecocentric perspectives that dissolve human agency into the natural world, social ecology advances a dialectical understanding of the reciprocal relationship between society and nature. Within literary studies, this perspective extends beyond conventional ecocriticism by examining literary texts as dynamic ecological systems shaped by interactions among culture, politics, economy, technology, ethics, and the natural environment. Rather than isolating environmental themes from broader social structures, social ecology situates literature within the historical processes that simultaneously produce ecological degradation and …