This new edition of John Hannigan's well-known and respected text has been thoroughly revised to reflect recent conceptual and empirical advances in environmental sociology. The book offers a distinctive and even-handed treatment of environmental issues and debates, integrating European theoretical contributions such as risk society and ecological modernization with North American empirical insights and findings. Key updates include: an extended discussion of how classic sociological theory relates to contemporary environmental sociology a critical overview of contemporary interdisciplinary perspectives, namely co-constructionist theories of 'socionature' a focus on cultural sociologies of the environment, notably discourse analysis and social framing updated coverage of the environmental justice movement and grassroots mobilizations a review of the linkages between environmental sociology and the sociology of disasters a brand new case history chapter on the escalating global conflict over freshwater resources.Making a strong case for centrally incorporating power relations into a realist/constructionist model of environmental knowledge, politics and policy-making, this book includes a comparative analysis of the USA, Britain and Canada, and will prove a valuable student resource.