Environmental sociology

The study of societal-environmental interactions in a sociological perspective is referred to as Environmental sociology. This deals with the relationship between environment and the society in a broader sense. Thought it has been like that, studying the social factors that create environmental problems has always been the important thing for the sociologist. They have put greater emphasis on solving these problems and analyzing the impact of these problems in the society. They have also observed the social processes which state the problems of the environmental conditions.

The constructivist and the realist have debated on environmental sociology during 1990 which has seen a common ground that both of them accept the fact that environmental problems have a material reality.  These environmental come to light only through the efforts of media, scientific knowledge and the activists.

Charles Darwin has commented on the impact of certain social characteristics which has played a vital role in preserving certain groups in the natural environment. Though biological determinism was embraced by many people they have found in the latter half of the 20^th century that biological determinism has not been a success in explaining the relationship between environment and humans.

On the other hand, they realized the effectiveness of applying social determinism which has made the role of sociology to become more persuasive in examining the environmental conditions. In the beginning, the social and cultural factors are perceived as the cause of cultural and social condition which in turn made it to ignore the effects of  environmental factors or environment determinism that create social phenomena.

The cultural uniqueness and the evolutionary traits hold the duality of the human condition. In one angle, the human beings are implanted in the ecosphere and evolved with other species.  This was the view of existential dualism. On the other hand, there has been another view which posed that human being are distinct creatures, they differ from one to other in innovative capacities. The cultures and traditions differ with varied institutions. Humans posses the power to destroy and manipulate the boundaries of the natural environment.

Buttle has come up five basic epistemologies which explain five different theories in the environmental sociology. They are

• Neo- Malthusianism
• New Ecological paradigm
• Eco-Marxism
• Ecological Modernization
• Social Construction of the Environment.

The modern environmental movement came to existence in the 1960s as a result of the strong cultural momentum for environmental causes. This period was also characterized by the questioning of the sociologist who analyzed the movement.

Questions:

• What is Environmental sociology?
• What is the impact of social determinism in the environmental sociology?