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Resilience

Thorén, Henrik LU (2021) p.79-90
Abstract
Resilience is a concept that is both foundational and, at the same time, relentlessly controversial in sustainability science. It is supposed to both provide a fundamental insight into how complex adaptive systems behave—an insight with substantial normative consequences—and serve as an interdisciplinary bridge linking the disparate worlds of the natural and the social sciences. Yet the concept of resilience is famously messy, along several conceptual dimensions, and seems to have become messier with time.
In order to better understand the potential and limitations of resilience in sustainability science, as well as explain why the concept has changed in the way that it has, it is useful to trace the notion back to its conceptual... (More)
Resilience is a concept that is both foundational and, at the same time, relentlessly controversial in sustainability science. It is supposed to both provide a fundamental insight into how complex adaptive systems behave—an insight with substantial normative consequences—and serve as an interdisciplinary bridge linking the disparate worlds of the natural and the social sciences. Yet the concept of resilience is famously messy, along several conceptual dimensions, and seems to have become messier with time.
In order to better understand the potential and limitations of resilience in sustainability science, as well as explain why the concept has changed in the way that it has, it is useful to trace the notion back to its conceptual roots: the ecological debates of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The specific conditions under which the concept was deployed in that context have not persisted, as resilience has been incorporated into sustainability science. Narrow theoretical debates and formal styles of reasoning have been replaced with interdisciplinarity and solution-orientedness. The new context neither demands nor supports the fine concepts that were once so crucial for ecologists. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
scientific concepts, ecology, resilience
host publication
Situating Sustainability : A Handbook of Context and Concepts - A Handbook of Context and Concepts
editor
Kreig, Peter and Toivonen, Reeta
pages
79 - 90
publisher
Helsinki University Press
ISBN
978-952-369-051-6
DOI
10.33134/HUP-14-6
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
cd3243c8-8385-4e63-ac88-8baaeda695eb
date added to LUP
2021-03-16 08:55:40
date last changed
2021-11-25 14:26:29
@inbook{cd3243c8-8385-4e63-ac88-8baaeda695eb,
  abstract     = {{Resilience is a concept that is both foundational and, at the same time, relentlessly controversial in sustainability science. It is supposed to both provide a fundamental insight into how complex adaptive systems behave—an insight with substantial normative consequences—and serve as an interdisciplinary bridge linking the disparate worlds of the natural and the social sciences. Yet the concept of resilience is famously messy, along several conceptual dimensions, and seems to have become messier with time.<br/>In order to better understand the potential and limitations of resilience in sustainability science, as well as explain why the concept has changed in the way that it has, it is useful to trace the notion back to its conceptual roots: the ecological debates of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The specific conditions under which the concept was deployed in that context have not persisted, as resilience has been incorporated into sustainability science. Narrow theoretical debates and formal styles of reasoning have been replaced with interdisciplinarity and solution-orientedness. The new context neither demands nor supports the fine concepts that were once so crucial for ecologists.}},
  author       = {{Thorén, Henrik}},
  booktitle    = {{Situating Sustainability : A Handbook of Context and Concepts}},
  editor       = {{Kreig, Peter and Toivonen, Reeta}},
  isbn         = {{978-952-369-051-6}},
  keywords     = {{scientific concepts; ecology; resilience}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{79--90}},
  publisher    = {{Helsinki University Press}},
  title        = {{Resilience}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.33134/HUP-14-6}},
  doi          = {{10.33134/HUP-14-6}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}