Wikipedia

Ted Benton

Ted Benton is a British academic.[1][2][3]

Career

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As an academic, Benton works as an emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Essex.[4] He has taught subjects such as social theory and environmental social science for more than forty years.[4]

His most notable book is Philosophical Foundations of the Three Sociologies, published by Routledge, which was reviewed in Sociology, Acta Sociologica and the American Journal of Sociology.[5][6][7] He was influential in some of the early discussions that grew into the critical realism tradition in philosophy of science and the social sciences and has since maintained a realist position, though outside the mainstream of critical realism.[8] He has had a particular interest in the relation between the social and natural sciences, where he has criticized some of the more constructionist approaches to this relation.[9] He has also been a strong advocate of eco-socialist ideas, influenced by the Marxist tradition.[10][11]

Alongside his work in philosophy and social theory, Benton is an active natural historian, who has published well regarded works, specializing in insects and particularly in bees.[8] In 2007, he received the Stamford Raffles Award given by the Zoological Society of London.[12]

Books

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  • Philosophical Foundations of the Three Sociologies (1977)[12]
  • The Rise and Fall of Structural Marxism (1984)
  • Natural Relations (1993)
  • The Greening of Marxism (editor) (1996)
  • Philosophy of Social Science (2001)
  • The Butterflies of Colchester and North East Essex (2002)
  • The Easy Butterfly Guide: Britain and Europe (2006)
  • The Sage Handbook of Environment and Society (2007)
  • Nature, Social Relations and Human Needs (2009)
  • Grasshoppers and Crickets, Collins New Naturalist (2012)
  • Alfred Russel Wallace: Explorer, Evolutionist, Public Intellectual (2013)
  • A Naturalist's Guide to the Butterflies of Great Britain and Northern Europe (2017)
  • Solitary Bees (2017)
  • Solitary Bees, Collins New Naturalist (2023) with Nick Owens

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ Benton, Ted (16 May 1985). "Book Reviews". Sociology. 19 (2): 324–325. doi:10.1177/0038038585019002031. S2CID 220673174.
  2. ^ Sharp, Keith (1992). "Biology and Social Science: A Reply to Ted Benton". Sociology. 26 (2): 219–224. doi:10.1177/0038038592026002005. JSTOR 42855006. S2CID 143926527.
  3. ^ Isaac, Jeffrey (1982). "On Benton's 'Objective Interests and the Sociology of Power': A Critique". Sociology. 16 (3): 440–444. doi:10.1177/0038038582016003009. JSTOR 42852456. S2CID 145102788.
  4. ^ a b Global, Ted BentonTopics: Ecology Marxism Marxist Ecology Places (1 May 2019). "Monthly Review | Marx, Animals, and Humans".
  5. ^ Halfpenny, Peter (1 September 1978). "Book Review: Philosophical Foundations of the Three Sociologies". Sociology. 12 (3): 575–578. doi:10.1177/003803857801200311. ISSN 0038-0385.
  6. ^ "Book Reviews : Ted Benton: Philosophical Foundations of the Three Sociologies, International Library of Sociology, edited by John Rex. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1977, xi + 225 pp". Acta Sociologica. 22 (2): 205–206. April 1979. doi:10.1177/000169937902200211. ISSN 0001-6993. S2CID 220420069.
  7. ^ Hawthorn, Geoffrey (1 January 1979). "Philosophical Foundations of the Three Sociologies. Ted Benton". American Journal of Sociology. 84 (4): 1010–1012. doi:10.1086/226879 – via journals.uchicago.edu (Atypon).
  8. ^ a b Benton, Ted; Morgan, Jamie (1 January 2025). "From a realist epistemology to ecosocialism: an interview with Ted Benton, part 1". Journal of Critical Realism. 24 (1): 76–107. doi:10.1080/14767430.2025.2462394. ISSN 1476-7430.
  9. ^ Benton, Ted (1 February 1991). "Biology and Social Science: Why the Return of the Repressed should be given a (Cautious) Welcome". Sociology. 25 (1): 1–29. doi:10.1177/0038038591025001002. ISSN 0038-0385.
  10. ^ Benton, Ted (1 December 1989). "Marxism and Natural Limits: An Ecological Critique and Reconstruction". New Left Review (I/178): 51–86.
  11. ^ Benton, Ted (17 May 1993). Natural Relations: Ecology, Animal Rights and Social Justice. Verso. ISBN 978-0-86091-590-4.
  12. ^ a b c "Profile for Ted Benton at the University of Essex". essex.ac.uk.
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