Fishy Business (Animals Culture And Society)
by Rik Scarce
List Price:
Our Price: $22.95
You Save: $4.00 (15%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.96 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Rik ScarceEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2000-01-02
ISBN: 1566397294
Number of pages: 236
Publisher: Temple University Press
Summary of Fishy Business (Animals Culture And Society)
Leaping waterfalls, struggling through rocky shallows, only the strongest salmon survive to spawn a new generation. These remarkable fish seem to be pure nature, unfathomable, all instinct. But are they? For more than a century biologists have tried to unlock the mystery of salmon behavior, and in the process they have made science very much a part of the salmon we know. For sociologist Rik Scarce, salmon represents an opportunity to probe the relationship of science, society, and nature. About Pacific salmon, a game fish and food source that is protected and managed for economic and environmental abundance, Scarce writes, "What other living thing receives such extensive attention from science and society, is used in so many ways, yet retains so much of what we would like to think is its 'wild' character!" He shows how political, bureaucratic, and economic forces have directed salmon science for their own purposes and how control remains a central feature in salmon biology. Identifying a countertrend rooted in environmental activism, Scarce also argues that an ecocentric perspective is gaining ground even as pressures mount simultaneously to save endangered salmon populations and to bring every last salmon to market. Thus, while external forces control much of the biologists' work, a movement is underway to free biology from political and economic pressures. In rich, ethnographic detail, Scarce develops this portrait of a science struggling with nature and itself. The old-line "fisheries biologists" tell how they work under immense pressure to unravel the unknowns of salmon existence fulfilling the objectives of politically-motivated funding agencies. In contrast, the new breed of "conservation biology" researchers struggle to maintain the genetic diversity of salmon populations while minimizing the ways humans determine the fate of the salmon. "Fishy Business" provides new ways for regarding human interactions with other species, from appealing species like wolves, whales, and redwood trees, to less popular ones such as snail darters and kangaroo rats. Society struggles to decide which parts of nature matter and why. Ultimately, Scarce argues, nature is a social product: What shall we make of it? Rik Scarce is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Montana State University and author of the popular and important environmental book "Eco-Warriors: Understanding the Radical Environmental Movement".Human Geography Books
- Nonfiction > Social Sciences
- Sociology > General
- Outdoors & Nature > Conservation > General
- Environment > Conservation
- Ecology
- Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Environmental Science
- Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Ichthyology
- Earth Sciences > Environmental Science
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Human Geography Books
Barron's AP Human Geography, 2nd edition (Barron's How to Prepare for the AP Human Geography Advanced Placement Exam)by Meredith Marsh, Peter S. Alagona
Barrons Educational Series; Published: 2008-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.80
Price in other shops:
What the World Eatsby Peter Menzel, Faith D'Aluisio
Tricycle Press; Published: 2008-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.83
Price in other shops:
Planet of Slumsby Mike Davis
Verso; Published: 2007-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.54
Price in other shops:
Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States (New York Review Books Classics)by George R. Stewart
NYRB Classics; Published: 2008-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.91
Price in other shops:
The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Revised and Updated: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Lateby Thom Hartmann
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2004-04-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.54
Price in other shops:
The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Lifeby Richard Florida
Basic Books; Published: 2003-12-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.97
Price in other shops:
The Atlas of the Real Worldby Daniel Dorling, Mark Newman, Anna Barford
Thames & Hudson; Published: 2008-10-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $25.95
Price in other shops:
Who's Your City?: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Lifeby Richard Florida
Basic Books; Published: 2008-03-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.94
Price in other shops:
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societiesby Jared Diamond
W. W. Norton; Published: 2005-07-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.44
Price in other shops:
The World Without Usby Alan Weisman
Picador; Published: 2008-08-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Behavior And Ecology Of Pacific Salmon And Troutby Thomas P. Quinn
University of Washington Press; Published: 2005-05-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $48.00
Price in other shops:
Environmental Sociology: From Analysis to Actionby Deborah McCarthy Leslie King
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.; Published: 2005-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $40.76
Price in other shops:
The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politics of PollutionSierra Club Books; Published: 2005-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.21
Price in other shops:
Ecology Against Capitalismby John Bellamy Foster
Monthly Review Press; Published: 2002-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.97
Price in other shops: