Science, Politics, and the Anthropocene Working Group: What was the Anthropocene?

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Alexander Damianos

Science, Politics, and the Anthropocene Working Group

What was the Anthropocene?

Alexander Damianos

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Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Routledge
03 November 2025

Social & cultural history; History of science; Earth sciences

Series: Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine

Between 2009 and 2024, the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), an interdisciplinary team of geologists, archaeologists, Earth systems scientists, historians of science, and one lawyer, sought to formalise the Anthropocene as a formal unit of the Geologic Time Scale. Science, Politics, and the Anthropocene Working Group: What Was the Anthropocene? presents the first comprehensive, ethnographic and history of science study of the AWG’s formalisation effort. Drawing on original archival research, this book provides a history of the formalisation procedure, as well as the practices of measurement and correlation, particularly to the amendment of the Geologic Time Scale.

Through participant observation, this book explains how the AWG applied geological methods and practices to situate contemporary society within the context of 4.5 billion years of Earth’s history. Positioning contemporary debates concerning the Anthropocene within a historical appraisal of geoscience, Science, Politics, and the Anthropocene Working Group: What Was the Anthropocene? offers a unique, multidisciplinary perspective on how scientific knowledge is shaped and legitimised under conditions of the climate crisis. Science, Politics, and the Anthropocene Working Group: What Was the Anthropocene? provides an invaluable resource for scholars of all levels studying geosciences, the history of science, social studies of science, and the Anthropocene.

By: Alexander Damianos
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 600g
ISBN: 9781032990040
ISBN 10: 103299004X
Series: Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine
Pages: 232
Publication Date: 03 November 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Alexander Damianos is lecturer at Kent Law School, University of Kent. He researches the historical significance of science and technology. He regularly publishes in leading journals across law, aesthetics, and sociology of science. He holds a PhD in Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science.