Böcker av Peter Dickens

This book offers a new understanding of society¿s relations with the cosmos. Entrepreneurs such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk receive a great deal of publicity, but offer unlikely and implausible visions of space tourism for the general public. Meanwhile, asteroids are seen as ¿rare materials¿ which will be extracted and used to produce untold riches for earthbound citizens.The reality is rather different. First, there is no evidence that owners of capital are attempting to extract ¿rare¿ materials in the cosmos. The costs would be ¿out of this world¿. But capital, not governments, is determining how outer space should be used. Capital¿s investments in aerospace companies are actively determining forms of military interventions and the equipment used. And satellite television pumps out forms of culture aimed at a global audience. But these are being ignored and subverted by, for example, indigenous peoples.In short, this book setsout a new understanding of our relations with the cosmos. The forces of capital are certainly powerful but at the same time they are being challenged, subverted and even overturned.

Attempts to reconstruct social theory in a way that enables it to speak to contemporary environmental issues. After reviewing existing sociological traditions, the author draws on the early work of Karl Marx to suggest that processes and relations in the workplace are the main source of people's separation from nature.

This book argues that the division of labour is a key but neglected factor underlying people's inability to adequately understand and relate to the natural world.