Merchant, Carolyn. Ecological Revolutions: Nature, Gender, and Science in New England. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989.
Carolyn Merchant argues that ecological revolutions "are processes through which different societies change their relationship to nature, " resulting in a "new construction of nature, both materially and in human consciousness. " Basic to this perspective is an understanding that nature is a socially constructed concept defined in different ways by different groups through time. Looking at New England, Merchant documents two ecological reovlutions for that area: a colonial ecological revolution (17th century) and a subsequent capitalist ecological revolution (c. 1776-1860). Merchant closes with a plea that a new paradigm based on ecological thinking is needed to replace the present exploitative one based on patriarchy, capitalism, and the domination of nature. This new paradigm would rest on a different set of assumptions about nature, one that looks upon people and nature as a unifed whole. [S. Trail]