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Social Ecology Press Book Reviews
Review of Man, Mind and Land: A Theory of Resource Use, by Walter Firey, Middleton, WI: Social Ecology Press. 1999 (Previously published in 1950 by The Free Press and reprinted in 1977 by Greenwood Press, Inc.). 240 pp. $14.95 (paper). ISBN:0-941042-25-1 June 2004, Rural Sociology 69:318-320
Reviewed by Sean Keenan
Oklahoma State University
Man Mind and Land is all about interaction between humans and natural resources. The book is a classic treatment in the field of natural resource sociology and should be on the book shelf of every scholar who studies environment/natural resource issues. Why study Man, Mind and Land today? The book’s arguments have many parallels to contemporary literature dealing with common property resources and local participation in resource policy and planning. It also provides an example of how to write about complex sociological ideas in short, declarative sentences. Firey’s precise articulation of ideas allows us to see how he brought together ideas of his predecessors and mentors into a theory relevant to his own observations of natural resource utilization. Because his methodology differs from what is typically employed in rural sociology today, it also provides us with an opportunity to contemplate relative strengths and limitations of different methodologies. Along with other classics in rural sociology, Firey’s Man, Mind and Land provides us with the opportunity to reflect on where we have been. Articulating linkages between these classics and contemporary literature will enable us to begin the discovery process anew and to once again observe the world with new eyes.
References:
Pedersen, Harold A. 1961. “Book Review of Man, Mind and Land by Walter Firey.” Rural Sociology 26:426-7
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