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This article focuses on several abstracts published in the journal "Sociologia Ruralis." The paper "Theorising Nature and Society in Sociology: The Invisibility of Animals," by Hilary Tovey argues that animals are central to rural social life and a rural sociology needs to develop theorizations of the rural which incorporate this fact. It looks to environmental sociology, the sociology of the relations between nature and society, for help in this respect, but argues that the debates which have characterized recent sociology of the environment have focused attention on the problems of conceptualizing nature at the expense of attempts to reonceptualise society. The paper "Communities in Nature: The Construction and Understanding of Forest Natures," by Terry Marsden, Paul Milbourne, Lawrence Kitchen and Kevin Bishop outlines three different but interrelated theoretical strands associated with contemporary society-nature debates; namely social constructionism, realism and ecological modernization. By using empirical evidence from a case study of community and forestry interactions in a South Wales ex-mining village, the paper argues for the need to incorporate into these theoretical debates a deeper analysis of community understandings and practices.

Abstract The paper argues that animals are central to rural social life and a rural sociology needs to develop theorisations of the rural which incorporate this fact. It looks to environmental sociology, the sociology of the relations between ‘nature’ and ‘society’, for help in this respect, but argues that the debates (particularly the ‘realist’ versus ‘social constructionist’ debate) which have characterised recent sociology of the environment have focussed attention on the problems of conceptualising ‘nature’ at the expense of attempts to reconceptualise ‘society’. It ends by arguing that sociology needs a ‘New Societal Paradigm’ which would include at least ‘domestic’ animals within society, and recognise the social relations of inequality and hierarchy through which their life opportunities are structured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]