Conflits entre protecteurs et producteurs dans la campagne irlandaise

Conflicts between protectors and producers in the Irish countryside This study of the relations between agricultural activities and the environment in Ireland describes the preoccupations of country- and town-dwellers as well as the interests of farmers and of the protectors of nature. The ambivalence in farming's technical, economic and social forms is harmful to the environment ; but it does produce the countryside as a social environment. The conflict between farmers and protectors of nature must be studied through each group's conceptions and interests ; and interpreted by taking into account the changes that, in recent years, have affected the relations between town- and country-dwellers. Questions are raised about the foreseeable consequences for farmers and consumers of applying the new Rural Environmental Protection Scheme.Dans cet article, on traite des relations entre l'activité agricole et l'environnement en Irlande en s'attachant à caractériser les préoccupations des ruraux et celles des urbains, les intérêts des agriculteurs et ceux des protecteurs de la nature. Après une description des formes techniques, économiques et sociales des exploitations, l'auteur montre l'ambivalence qui caractérise celles-ci, à la fois préjudiciables à l'environnement et productrices de la campagne en tant que milieu social. L'antagonisme entre les agriculteurs et les défenseurs de la nature doit être étudié à la lumière des représentations et des intérêts de chaque groupe et être interprété à partir des changements intervenus ces dernières années dans les rapports entre urbains et ruraux. Enfin, on s'interroge sur les conséquences prévisibles de l'application du nouveau programme agri-environnemental (le REPS) pour les exploitants comme pour les consommateurs.Tovey Hilary. Conflits entre protecteurs et producteurs dans la campagne irlandaise. In: Études rurales, n°141-142, 1996. Cultiver la nature, sous la direction de Pierre Alphandéry et Jean-Paul Billaud. pp. 183-195

Reflections from within: nature-society relations, interdisciplinarity, and knowledge production in rural sociology

This paper reflects on the distinctive character of sociological knowledge production, particularly in rural and environmental sociology, which is called into question by the huge current interest in understanding human encounters with nature and by increasing calls for interdisciplinarity in researching these. It attempts to re-state some foundational strengths of sociology as a discipline, as well as to identify some theoretical dilemmas for sociologists undertaking socio-natural research

"Of Cabbages and Kings": restructuring in the Irish food industry

The food processing industry in Ireland has become more concentrated, diversified, and internationalised in recent years. To date, most Irish discussions have tended to treat the food industry as part of agriculture, assuming a consensus of interests around its development between farmers and industry managers. This paper questions that assumption, drawing on international studies of vertical integration in food production to explore the effects of structural change in the industry for farmers, and to a lesser extent, for industry employees and food consumers

Sustainability: A Platform for Debate

Sustainability, as a new platform for debating sustainable development, drawing on a range of disciplinary perspectives and knowledges, provides an opportunity to ask some searching questions about this concept. This short paper seeks to remind ourselves of some of the questions we might ask (recognizing that there are also many others). It asks, in particular, about the organisation of work in contemporary societies and the sorts of relations to nature to which this gives rise; the sorts of knowledges which may help us to become more sustainable in our use of natural resources; the most useful modes of knowledge organization, transfer and dissemination for sustainability; and whether ‘sustainability’ is only or primarily about sustaining nature, or whether it must also include trying to create and sustain a certain kind of society.Work-nature relations; knowledge for sustainability; democratic participation

Sustainability: A Platform for Debate

Sustainability, as a new platform for debating sustainable development, drawing on a range of disciplinary perspectives and knowledges, provides an opportunity to ask some searching questions about this concept. This short paper seeks to remind ourselves of some of the questions we might ask (recognizing that there are also many others). It asks, in particular, about the organisation of work in contemporary societies and the sorts of relations to nature to which this gives rise; the sorts of knowledges which may help us to become more sustainable in our use of natural resources; the most useful modes of knowledge organization, transfer and dissemination for sustainability; and whether ‘sustainability’ is only or primarily about sustaining nature, or whether it must also include trying to create and sustain a certain kind of society

Dinámicas del conocimiento, identidad territorial y desarrollo rural sustentable en la unión europea

Bruckmeier y Tovey presentan los resultados de un proyecto de investigación llamad

Book review: A sociology of Ireland / by Hilary Tovey and Perry Share. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 2000.

According to its authors, this book has two aims. The first is to offer an interpretation of the development of Irish society. The second is to provide an introduction to the discipline of sociology. Underpinning both of these is a particular vision of the nature of sociology. This regards all sociologies as in part at least national ones. The concern of sociology is to understand the particular society that the sociologist is a part of rather than interpreting it as a distorted version of some kind of amorphous modern society that is only inhabited by social theorists. As such this perspective involves taking Irish society seriously as a society in its own terms and not as an inferior or defective version of supposedly modern societies such as the United States, Germany or Great Britain. This is a useful and important starting argument all the more significant for the fact that it had to be made. It is an odd reflection on the institutional status of Irish sociology and of the status within that of work on Ireland that the authors feel the need to articulate and defend this position. It is unlikely that a textbook on British, American or Australian society would have to begin in this manner. But then senior professors in these countries would have achieved their position on the basis of research and interpretative work done of the countries in which they are employed, a situation that generally speaking does not apply in Ireland

The influence of expertise upon the designer's approach to studio practice and tool use

Industrial design is characterized by the embodiment of design intentions. From conceptualization through to design specification, the designer employs a variety of design tools to externalize and develop design solutions to often ill-defined design problems. Surveys of student and practicing designers synthesise existing theoretical and empirical studies of design practice to analyse designer attitudes towards tool use and effectiveness. The survey studies illustrate the influence of expertise upon the designer's attitudes towards tool use during studio practice. Results indicate a relationship between limited experience and the designer's perceptions of and approaches to iterative exploration and design divergence. The use of certain designerly tools appear to compound a tendency for design convergence and fixation.close0