Intro to Environmental Sociology

8/3/2019 Intro to Environmental Sociology

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/intro-to-environmental-sociology 1/19

Sociological Perspectives onEnvironmental Problemsand Commons Dilemmas)

Overview

• What is Sociology?

• What is Environmental Sociology?

• What are some examples of research byenvironmental sociologists?



Official Definition of the American Sociological Association:Sociology is the study of social life, social change, and thesocial causes and consequences of human behavior.

What is Sociology?

Sociologists investigate the structure of groups, organizations,and societies, and how people interact within these contexts.Since all human behavior is social, the subject matter of sociology ranges from the intimate family to the hostile mob;from organized crime to religious cults; from the divisions of

race, gender and social class to the shared beliefs of acommon culture; and from the sociology of work to thesociology of sports.

WHAT’S MISSING?????



What is Environmental Sociology?

Environmental Sociology’s Three Primary Concerns:

1. What are the social causes of environmental changes?

2.

How might humans halt these changes?

3. What are the possible social impacts of theenvironmental changes caused by humans?(What are the social impacts of proposed solutions to the

environmental changes caused by humans?)

“The study of interaction between the environment and society.”

Catton, W. and R. Dunlap. 1978. “Environmental Sociology: A New

Paradigm.” The American Sociologist 13: 41-49.



What are the social causes of environmental changes?

Technology vs. Population

P E

O

T

P=Population

O=Social Organization

E=Environment

T=Technology

Environmental sociologists have attempted to movebeyond this simplistic duality…



I = (P) X (A) X (T)

I = the environmental impact a society has

P = Population

A = Affluence (e.g., per capita income)

T = Technology

Criticisms of this model include:

1. Assumes simple linear relationship

2. Simplifies (and perhaps overemphasizes) social organizationas “affluence”

One solution has been to conceptualize “social organization” morespecifically as including cultural, social and personality “systems”



What is Social Organization?

•Power : the ability to impose one’s will on another (moresubtly…influence over other’s choices)

•Social Context: the system of meanings, and availablestrategies for communicating meanings, within a given

situation

•Social Values: Beliefs and ideas about what is good,right, or beautiful that are held collectively by members of a social group

Other aspects of social organization: stratification (i.e., systems

of inequality), social structure, education, traditions, beliefs,

myths, production of knowledge, and more



How might humanshalt environmental changes?

Society’s technological bias has focused on three types of solutions:

1. Use of more technology to “fix” the problems (e.g., newtechnologies to find new sources of oil)

2. Appropriate technology (e.g., solar, hydro, geothermalor other renewable energy sources to meet energy

demands)

3. Technological simplification or “atavism” (e.g.,abandoning harmful technologies and returning to“simpler” times)



Non-technological Fixes1. Cognitive (or knowledge) fix…“Give people the right

information and they’ll change their behavior”PROBLEMS: A-B split, structural obstacles, attribution of

responsibility

2. Structural (or legislative) fix…“Give people no choice by

mandating certain behaviors”PROBLEMS: lack of political power or will, unintended

consequences

3. Behavioral fix…“Reward people for the ‘correct’ behavior”PROBLEMS: consumers aren’t always rational, inequitable

distribution of impacts

Which works best?

A combination of all three…and social scientists can help predict

the best balance (but first we need to know the problem and itscauses)



What are the social impacts and/or their possible solutions?

Environmental sociologists have tended to focus on thedistributional impacts of environmental changes.Extensive evidence of inequitable distribution has beenobserved over the last 30 years, a driving force of theEnvironmental Justice movement.

Our original model,at left, has no arrows

leading away from‘E,’ as does themodel at right.

P E

O

T

SOCIAL CAUSES OF…

P E

O

T

SOCIAL IMPACTS FROM…



Distributional Impacts of Climate Change Policies

Ø … a ton of CO2 reduced inAfrica has the same impact… as a ton of CO2 reducedin Minneapolis. But …[r]educing carbon

emissions invariably alsoreduces toxics … like leador mercury. An urban-based coal fired powerplant that offsets its CO2emissions by helping to

plant trees in Africacontinues to emitpollutants that adverselyaffect the health of localresidents.

Ø Using $10 per ton of CO2as the average offset price(current prices are as lowas $8 per ton), the U.S.,which generates about 24

percent of the world'sgreenhouse gases, couldbuy complete absolutionfor about $100 billion ayear. For that price it wouldannounce to the world …

that we are not responsiblefor any net newgreenhouse gases. Thecost is less than half theannual spending on thewar in Iraq.



Environmental SociologyResearch

Social causes of environmental change

Macro-level Theories

Treadmill of Production

Risk Society

Micro-level analyses

Social traditions, routines, practices,

behavioral motivation

EXAMPLE: What one daily activity of individuals

consumes more water than any other?


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/intro-to-environmental-sociology 12/19Human Uses of Ecosystems

Additions

Withdrawals


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/intro-to-environmental-sociology 13/19Human (Ab)Uses of Ecosystems

Additions

Withdrawals

S i l Lif E l i l



Figure 1. Conceptualization of Human-Environment Interaction

social lifeprocesses

Biophysical

Reality

Social World

ecologicalprocesses/

services

ENVIRONMENT

Social LifeProcesses

Cultural beliefs

Technology

Material culture

Value systems

Economicsystems

Political systems

Social institutions

Self-concept

Socialization

Social control

Social structure

EcologicalProcesses

Water and air purification

Drought and floodmitigation

Decomposition anddetoxification of wastes

Generation andrenewal of fertilesoil

Pollination

Seed dispersal andtranslocation of nutrients

Maintenance of biodiversity

Protection from UVrays

Climate stability

Moderation of extremes (e.g.,temperature,waves, wind)

(Daily 1997)



Showering

[Solutions] that focus on resource use alone, including

injunctions to use less water, fail to appreciate the bigger

picture - namely the longer-term transformation of normal

practice. Technologically grounded efforts (like the design

and promotion of low flow showerheads) have to be

understood and situated in this wider context.

Significant factors:• Piped water and private baths

• Electrification and instant hot water

• Hygiene

• Transformation of body as site of self-representation





What to conclude aboutshowering…

…it should by now be clear that the quantities of energy andwater consumed by those who shower are more significantly

affected by the nature of showering as a practice than by

individual environmental commitments. In the longer run, what

matters is how the practice of showering is defined and

conceptualised. The case of showering indicates that by focusing

exclusively on the resources involved - that is on energy and

water - policy makers have failed to pay anything like enough

attention to the services and practices that their consumptionmakes possible. In environmental terms, the challenge is to avert

the normalisation of distinctively resource intensive combinations

of technology and convention - not to promote efficiency as an

end in its own right.




Ways of Halting Social Causes of Environmental Change

Macro-level Theories

Ecological Modernization

Micro-level AnalysesBehavior change research (e.g., recycling)

What would it take to get peopleto recycle?




Macro-level Analyses

Environmental Justice research

Micro-level AnalysesCommunity and Family impacts of contaminationEnvironmental illness experience

Social Impacts of Environmental Changes

Documents

Intro to Environmental Sociology