Brewster Contributes to Published Book

Bradly Brewster, Graceland University Assistant Professor of Sociology

Graceland University Assistant Professor of Sociology Bradly Brewster has contributed a chapter to The Timeliness of George Herbert Mead, a book recently published and edited by Hans Joas and Daniel R. Huebner. The contributed chapter presents a case for recognizing Mead as a socio-environmental thinker. It begins by documenting that the original socio-environmental thrust of Mead’s thought has yet to be recognized in environmental sociology. To address this, the chapter first explores the anti-dualistic dimensions in Mead’s writings, reconceiving dualisms as mutualisms in ways that accord well with the theoretical aims of environmental sociology. It next demonstrates that Mead’s theory of the development of the self has implicit in it the groundwork for a more ecological self. Finally, it critically explores some of Mead’s macro-scale views for thinking about a more ecological social order. The chapter concludes with some future directions for utilizing Mead for environmental sociology, with a summary of our main points, and with a call for greater dialogue between the community of Mead scholars and the community of environmental scholars.

The Timeliness of George Herbert Mead is available in hardcover on Amazon here.