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Chapter 16
Sociology
and the Environment
by John Hannigan
Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson
Canada Limited.
1
SOCIOLOGY AND
THE ENVIRONMENT
•
Sociologists originally ignored the
environment as a subject of study.
•
The environment became a sociological
issue only in the 1970s due to urban
decay, pollution, overpopulation, and
resource shortages.
•
A major focus of concern became the
conflict between environmentalists and
their opponents in industry and science.
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ENVIRONMENTAL
VALUE CONFLICT
•
Two main environmental paradigms
shape the way people see the world.
•
The dominant paradigm values wealth
creation and the domination of nature.
•
The alternative environmental paradigm
gives non-material values prominence
and takes the view that humans should
live in harmony with the environment.
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COUNTERPARADIGMS
OF THE
ENVIRONMENT
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BRIDGING THE GAP?
•
The idea of sustainable development
sought to bridge the gap between the two
paradigms.
•
Its proponents argued that it is possible to
have continued economic growth without
harming the environment.
•
Many environmentalists are critical of this
concept, emphasizing the difficulty of
maintaining a balance.
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ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES
•
In North America, concern for
environmental issues seems to have
remained stable for the last two decades.
•
Environmentalism is most common among
highly educated, young, urban liberals.
•
Most people say they are pro-environment
without doing much about it unless action
is cheap and convenient and doesn’t
require any change of habits.
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ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES
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THE ENVIRONMENTAL
MOVEMENT: SOCIAL BASE
•
The environmental movement in the United States
was created in the nineteenth century by well-to-do
professionals.
•
In Canada, it was associated with state initiatives
undertaken by civil servants.
•
Now it is largely an upper- and new middle-class
movement, especially popular among cultural and
social specialists.
•
Often such people work in public service-oriented
jobs and are personally involved in environmental
issues with their clients.
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THE ENVIRONMENTAL
MOVEMENT: MOBILIZATION I
People pass through four stages in getting
mobilized:
• they see themselves as victims;
• they make individual appeals to
government;
• they become disillusioned with the
slow pace or absence of official
action; and
• they get organized.
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THE ENVIRONMENTAL
MOVEMENT: MOBILIZATION II
•
•
To convince people to participate, movement
members develop frames within which
environmental events are interpreted.
The three major elements of frames are:
• diagnostic (identifying a problem and
assigning blame);
• prognostic (offering a solution to the
problem); and
• motivational (a call to take collective
action).
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THE ENVIRONMENTAL
MOVEMENT: IDEOLOGICAL
DIVISIONS I
•
Value-oriented environmentalists try to
change the way people see the world.
•
Success-oriented environmentalists try to
stop actions that harm the environment.
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THE ENVIRONMENTAL
MOVEMENT: IDEOLOGICAL
DIVISIONS II
•
Deep ecology environmentalists emphasize
that humans are only one species and have no
special rights or privileges.
•
Ecofeminists believe that the oppression of
women and the environment are due to the
same male-centredness of social life.
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THE POLITICAL ECONOMY
PERSPECTIVE I
• Political economists argue that environmental
problems derive less from the decisions of
individual consumers than the relentless
economic development pursued by industrial
capitalists and the state.
•
The treadmill of production refers to the inherent
need of our economic system to yield profits by
creating consumer demand, regardless of the
environmental consequences.
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THE POLITICAL ECONOMY
PERSPECTIVE II
•
•
•
The state encourages the treadmill of production
by providing businesses with economic
incentives and access to natural resources.
Recent public demands for environmental control
have led governments to seek compromise
positions.
The unsustainable development pursued by many
developing countries has led to conflict with
northern environmentalists.
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RISK AND ASSESSMENT
•
•
•
Risk refers to the probability that a particular
hazard will actually occur.
Increasingly, risks are environmentally related
and calculated by experts.
Sociologists are particularly interested in:
• the organizational basis of risk;
• the community perception of risk; and
• the social distribution of risk.
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ORGANIZATIONAL BASIS OF
RISK
•
Increasingly, the source of risk has shifted to
large-scale organizations that are almost beyond
individual control.
•
Technological accidents in nuclear power
facilities, petrochemical plants, etc., are the normal
and inevitable consequences of profit-driven, highrisk systems.
• The way organizations respond to accidents often
amplifies risk.
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COMMUNITY PERCEPTION OF
RISK
•
•
•
•
Environmental risk perception is strongly
related to public trust in authorities’ ability to
manage danger.
It is also linked to people’s participation in
family, neighbourhood, and community affairs.
“Minimalists” deny risk and are usually social
isolates, childless, and property-focused.
“Maximalists” believe risks are substantial
and are typically young, health-focused
parents.
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THE SOCIAL DISTRIBUTION
OF RISK
•
•
Marginal groups (racial and ethnic minorities,
women, low-income urban dwellers, residents
of poor local areas) bear most environmental
risk.
They are the primary victims of pollution
because they live closest to the sources of
pollution.
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THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS I
•
•
Environmental problems do not arise spontaneously
but are discovered, presented, promoted, and kept
alive by policy entrepreneurs.
There are three central tasks in constructing
environmental claims: assembling, presenting, and
contesting. To secure public attention and support,
policy entrepreneurs have to surmount a series of
hurdles related to these tasks.
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THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS II
•
•
Recent research suggests that environmental
issues rise and fall in response to several factors:
• the clarity and viability of evidence;
• the ability to sustain a sense of dramatic
crisis; and
• the rise of competing environmental problems.
Powerful people can strongly influence what gets
defined as an environmental issue.
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SUPPLEMENTARY SLIDES
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RENEWABLE RESOURCES
WORLD PROJECTED PERCENT
CHANGE, 1990–2010
% decrease
0
-5
-10
-15
fish
catch
irrigable
land
-20
-25
crop land
rangeland,
pasture
-30
forests
-35
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Annual Mean Global Surface Air
Temperature and Carbon Dioxide
Concentration, 1866-2002
CO2, parts per million
382
Mean Temperature, C
15
x
352
Carbon dioxide concentration
x
14.5
14
x
x
x
x
322
292
x
Surface air temperature
13.5
262
232
13
1866
1934
Year
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202
2002
Worldwide Damage Due to “Natural”
Disasters, 1970-2002 (in 2002 $US)
$US billions
35
30
25
20
15
Trend line
10
5
Year
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2002
2000
1998
1996
1994
1992
1990
1988
1986
1984
1982
1980
1978
1976
1974
1972
1970
0
ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM IN CANADA?
TOTAL PARTICULATE MATTER IN THE ATMOSPHERE BY NATIVE CANADIANS
AS PERCENT OF PROVINCIAL/TERRITORIAL POPULATION
Native Canadians as
percent of population
Northwest Territories
60
40
Yukon
20
Manitoba
Saskatchewan
Alberta
0
0
2
4
6
Total particulate matter, short tons per capita
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