Essay on Environmental Sociology

1. What are the two paradigms identified by Catton and Dunlap (1978), and how do they inform the definition of environmental sociology?

Environmental sociology explains the interaction between the natural environment and societies. Environmental sociologists like Catton and Dunlap emphasize two dimensions of the relationship. These critical dimensions include; the decision making and the impact of human activity and the consequences and the existence of environmental inequality and environmental racism. Human activity and decision-making are identified as one of the main paradigms because masses making individual decisions and engaging in personal activities end up harming the environment (15.3 The Environment | Social Problems, 2012). This paradigm is also referred to as the “Human Exceptionalism Paradigm .”It has several assumptions challenged by recent scholars or contradicted by events over time (Environmental Sociology: A New Paradigm on JSTOR, 2022).

Environmental inequality has also been referred to as ecological injustice, and it relates to the likelihood of poor people and people of color experiencing ecological problems. On the other hand, environmental racism refers to the possibility of people of color experiencing ecological problems (15.3 The Environment | Social Problems, 2012). When dealing with the paradigm, you come across terms like environmental justice, which refers to grant on ecological imbalance and racism, and public outreach and activity to reduce these forms of disparities and intolerance. Low-wage workers are more likely to be exposed to environmental concerns than white workers, and ethnic groups are more likely to be exposed to ecological difficulties.

In conclusion, being aware of biological and physical facts helps understand sociological facts. This knowledge has enabled environmental sociologists to go beyond other fields and gain the skill to keep up the work. To claim that the globe is in danger may seem exaggerated, but the world is, in fact, in danger. An overview of environmental challenges will highlight the magnitude and seriousness of the problem.

2. In your own words, describe the social construction of the environment and provide your example (Lesson #2, Norgaard 2018, Fine 1997)?

One might claim that their current world has evolved and altered due to their societal perspectives. People’s natural material and social advancements are also included in the climate. The human-climate interaction encompasses human collaborations as well as their expressions. Social developments don’t address objective reality; instead, they have importance simply because individuals from the local area or gathering recognize that they do (Pellow & Brehm, 2013). Essentially characterized, social originations have no inborn importance. They have no significance until it is given to them by others (“Новые книги издательства Elsevier (Academic Press, Elsevier Science),” 2020). The discipline of geography described the relationship of human beings and their environment as a significant tradition that should and has been considered dynamic. Examples of social construction include;

• Religion – Social builds explicit to a particular category or confidence can be addressed in stringent practices. In Catholicism, for example, women are not authorized to serve as clergy (Pellow & Brehm, 2013). In any event, women are allowed to serve as pastors or other religious leaders in various religions.
• Gender behavior – The concept of certain practices being linked to a person’s orientation is a social development (Pellow & Brehm, 2013). This is true of the idea that males should hide their emotions or perceive that women are overly emotional. It also pertains to beliefs that young boys should play with trucks and young girls should play with dolls.
• Time/age is a social development when an individual is regarded as an adult. Individuals are considered adults at the age of 18 in the United States and the great majority of the European Union. On the other hand, individuals in Scotland are considered adults at the age of 16. Time is a social construct. It is meaningful only in terms of the human-made frameworks used to describe and make time significant (seconds, minutes, hours, and so on). Daylight Savings Time isn’t recognized in certain places; the concept of periodic time changes doesn’t exist when they aren’t perfected.

3. Identify and describe the three symbolic visions of the environment Fine (1997) defines?

Nature has been treated as an unproblematic reality and as a contented concept that suggests a cultural construction. The creation of social problems involving the environment should be based on artistic choices. These choices affect a set of ideological structures used by sociologists to come up with an understanding of humans and the natural environment. Allegory has a role in understanding nature as it does in understanding any socially significant concept. There are three opposing allegorical fantasies of nature: a protectionist viewpoint, a naturalist viewpoint, and a neoliberal viewpoint. By and large, few people embrace a situation with such constancy that they maintain a single shape in all circumstances. On the other hand, these three philosophical perspectives provide models that reveal possible understandings of the correct relationship between culture and nature. They disagree on whether or not nature and human civilization should be distinguished and, if so, whether or not human impact should be severely limited.

In conclusion, these philosophical dreams interact with natural experiences. Depending on circumstance and what societal convictions entail for emotional reaction, an individual may hunt down an ordinary, stunning, or luxuriously ecstatic encounter of nature. Nature is based on social analogies and is understood via experience. A challenge for naturalists is to depict their euphoric surge so that others can share their inner rationality. Encountering nature encompasses both the genuine understanding and the ability to express it.

4. Restate in your terms the conflict between a political economy, the perspective of the environment, treadmill of production theory, and the second contradiction of capitalism and a modernization perspective of the environment ecological modernization and green capitalism? What are the pros and cons of each view? How does risk society complicate this conflict?

In environmental sociology, political economy focuses on how modernity and capitalism affect social-ecological wellbeing. The research was based on a Marxist viewpoint, which holds that fights over the means of production favor the capitalist classes, resulting in greater environmental harm and huge social suffering. The political economy has had to contend with competing religious viewpoints, such as ecological modernization and the production treadmill. While cycles of modernization and globalization often result in environmental degradation, they may also inspire arrangements and programs to improve ecological quality within state governance and commercial practices, according to the natural modernization theory. Modernization through nature According to scholars, modern civilization has entered a new era. Innovative capitalists and foresighted financiers made significant advances in the 1980s, resulting in an era of recent progress capable of physiologically plausible outcomes. The modernization viewpoint contends that ongoing modernization is required for long-term economic viability.

The treadmill creation theory, on the other hand, claims that entrepreneur economies function like a treadmill, with environmental damage increasing as financial success increases. In this model, the entrepreneur state supports private accumulation while also worrying about the framework’s social consequences. The theory behind such a framework is that by focusing on economic development, more significant ventures will be able to address the social-ecological problems that the framework has already created. Similarly, despite the intrinsic illogic of such a system, financial backers, the state, customers, and the general public enhance their obligations to economic development by creating items that can be bought on the market, paying laborers, and ensuring the authenticity of country states.

The perspective of Green capitalism is a philosophy that asserts that we can use market forces to repair the screwed-up environment, which is its central premise. Green free-market proponents argue that the economy would undoubtedly suffer because nonrenewable energy supplies and most other common assets are limited and diminishing. This perspective helps improve the wellbeing of human beings and builds up social equity as it reduces environmental risks and scarcities.

In conclusion, the dilemma of economic growth is that the possibility of continuous economic growth is unsustainable. Most economies are unstable and on a declining trend. While private enterprise has undoubtedly fueled progress and prosperity in today’s society, it may also exacerbate inequality and contribute to market disappointments.

References

References 15.3 The Environment | Social Problems. (2012). Lumenlearning.com. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-socialproblems/chapter/15-3-the-environment/

Catton, W. R., & Dunlap, R. E. (1978). Environmental Sociology: A New Paradigm. The American Sociologist, 13(1), 41–49. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27702311

Fine, G. A. (1997). Nature work and The Taming of the Wild: The Problem of “Overpeck” in the Culture of Mushroomers. Social Problems, 44(1), 68–88. https://doi.org/10.2307/3096874

Gorm, M., & Writer, y W. S. (n.d.). What Is a Social Construct? Common Examples Explained. Examples.yourdictionary.com. https://examples.yourdictionary.com/what-is-social-construct-common-examples-explained

Metaphor Examples for Kids. (2018). YourDictionary. https://examples.yourdictionary.com/metaphor-examples-for-kids.html

Новые книги издательства Elsevier (Academic press, Elsevier science). (2020). Журнал аналитической химии, 75(6), 570–571. https://doi.org/10.31857/s0044450220060225

Pellow, D. N., & Brehm, H. N. (2013). An Environmental Sociology for the Twenty-First Century. Annual Review of Sociology, 39, 229–250. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43049634