What Could Geosociology Be? Preliminary Considerations on the Sociology of the Earth

What Could Geosociology Be? Preliminary Considerations on the Sociology of the Earth

Geosociology represents a fundamental shift in sociological inquiry, moving away from treating nature as an extra-social entity to viewing the Earth and society as a single, entangled reality. This "Sociology of the Earth" is increasingly necessary considering the planetary crises called ‘Anthropocene’, which reveal that social life is deeply embedded in planetary dynamics that shape the atmosphere, continents and oceans. What were exogenous drivers in the Holocene become endogenous processes in the Anthropocene. 

The presentation portrays sociology as a methodological science, drawing a parallel to geology. Much as a geologist observes physical strata, a sociologist observes the "layered" realities of social institutions. This comparison facilitates a dialogue between the two fields as epistemic equals, establishing a foundation for an interdisciplinary field.

Central to this perspective is the anthropological shift. Drawing on Bruno Latour, the text argues that humans must be understood as "terrestrials" or "earthlings." This rejects the modern illusion of human autonomy and acknowledges that social achievements—like urbanisation—are essentially geo-social arrangements. It further builds upon classical schools of thought, for example, Ibn Khaldun, who in his Muqaddimah (1377) observed how specific landscapes and resource availability (such as the contrast between desert and hill dwellers) shape social organisation.

The proposed epistemology of Geosociology navigates the space between social construction and material reality. While Berger and Luckmann famously defined reality as a social construct, Geosociology suggests that geological knowledge is a hybrid: it is mediated by human frameworks but anchored in the independent expedition into the telluric.

The presentation also addresses the linguistic dimension, specifically the use of geological metaphors (e.g., "social tectonics") to convey broader concepts, such as ‘deep time’. While these tools help visualise complexity, Geosociology insists on critical reflection on whether they illuminate realities or merely aestheticize social matters. As Markus Schroer (2022) suggests, sociology must venture beyond the humanities into biology and geology to go beyond such metaphors and learn how to keep constant contact with reality.

The multifaceted notion of the Anthropocene serves as the pivotal diagnostic tool, demonstrating that human activity has become peers with geological forces. This realisation challenges Ludwig Wittgenstein’s notion of the world as "everything that is the case" by asking whether the Earth's facticity carries ethical weight.

Finally, inspired by Auguste Comte’s dictum that science leads to foresight, Geosociology looks toward the future. It even touches on "extraterrestrial sociology," citing Cixin Liu’s novel The Dark Forest, which posits that, as civilisations grow, the quantity of matter remains constant. Hence, ultimately, the recently coined neologism Geosociology integrates deep-time perspectives with social action, for intra- and extra-terrestrial Earthlings.

 

Literature:

Berger / Luckmann: The Social Construction of Reality, 1991

Cixin Liu: The Dark Forest, 2015

Comte: Cours de philosophie positive, 1830

Grutzpalk: Strong Metaphors for Invisible Actants, 2016

Ibn Khaldun: Al Muqaddimah, 1377

Latour: Où suis-je ?: Leçons du confinement à l'usage des terrestres, 2021

Schroer: Geosoziologie, 2022

Wallenhorst / Wulf: Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene, 2024

Wittgenstein: Tractatus logico-philosophicus, 1921