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The Social Construction of Nature: Relativist Accusations, Pragmatist and Critical Realist Responses
Annals of the American Association of Geographers
Abstract
Social constructivists argue that what we call “nature” isfar less universal and extrahuman than generally assumed. Yet this argument has been vigorously attacked by some natural scientists and other scholars due to what they perceive as its dangerous flirtation with relativism. I introduce this debate by reference to a recent controversy over the concept of wilderness, an important icon of nature in North America. I then define several forms of relativism, and compare two contemporary bodies of thought that are in broad agreement with social constructivism, yet do not promote strong forms of relativism: critical realism and pragmatism. For its part, critical realism is marked by a qualified, though vigorous, rejection of strong forms of relativism in understanding nature, whereas pragmatism involves more of an agnostic response, a sense that the so-called problem of relativism is not as serious as critics of the social-construction-of-nature argument would believe. Taken together, the two approaches offer more than either one alone, as they both suggest important truths about nature, albeit generally at different scales. Ultimately, pragmatists and critical realists alike admit that allknowledges are partial and a certain degree of relativism is thus unavoidable; yet they both, in a sort of tense complementarity, point to ways that geographers and others whose business and concern it is to represent nature can indeed have something to say.
... Social constructionists have pointed out a number of issues with the realist assertion of being able to know the ‗reality' objectively (Sutton, 2004). Some would argue that realists tend to overlook the cultural aspects of reality through which people perceive and interpret nature world (Proctor, 1998). Critics say that due to their biological and material biases, realists are not paying attention to the social process of the meaning making i.e. construction of something as an ‗environment problem' (Proctor, 1998). ...
... Some would argue that realists tend to overlook the cultural aspects of reality through which people perceive and interpret nature world (Proctor, 1998). Critics say that due to their biological and material biases, realists are not paying attention to the social process of the meaning making i.e. construction of something as an ‗environment problem' (Proctor, 1998). For instance, pollution might be perceived very differently by different people in different time periods. ...
... Constructionists argue that nature does not present itself in an unmediated form and always requires interpretation, mediation of social meanings, constructions, discourses about it (Proctor, 1998). It is centered on the idea that human knowledge is socially constructed, andnot passively received from environment. ...
In this unit, we will cover some of the main research emphases and related theoretical debates that have been significant to the field of environmental sociology. We begin by examining the divide between realist and constructivist perspectives on environmental problems and how these perspectives have evolved. Then we examine the critiques of each of these approaches, their applications to understand the causes of environmental problems, the social impacts of these problems, and explanations of these problems in environmental sociology.
... I believe some of these standpoints risk going too far in the opposite direction to positivism (see also Woolgar, 1988 for example). In framing the environment as socially constructed, i.e. as something relativistic, they could serve to minimise the severity and scale of environmental issues, such as climate change and species loss (Proctor, 1998;Crist, 2004). Such issues fundamentally depend on pure scientific knowledge to diagnose and mitigate, including, though not exclusively, quantitative models and methods. ...
... There are differences between the critical realist and pragmatic standpoints, although they bear many similarities. While critical realists tend to be more concerned with theorising the broader political economic structures within which environmental and social problems occur, pragmatists zoom in on the empirics (Proctor, 1998). This affects the type of solutions they typically recommend. ...
... The majority of the solutions I offer are pragmatic and could be implemented across relatively short timescales. Critical realists may find them lacking in the terms of the more large-scale structural changes they tend to prioritise (see Proctor, 1998). I do not deny systemic change is necessary. ...
... In tourism language, wilderness is often regarded as the last place at the periphery of the modern world where people can still encounter the purity of untouched nature and indigenous cultures (Saarinen, 2004b;Saethórsdóttir et al., 2011) Several scholars have noted, however, that such untouched nature spaces hardly exist anymore, and I strongly agree. Furthermore, as I explain in Chapter Three, touristic wilderness does not always correspond with legally defined wilderness areas or ecological definitions of wilderness (Castree & Braun, 2001;Descola, 2003;Proctor, 1998;Zoderer et al., 2020). ...
... According to the social constructionism approach, nature relationships are created and negotiated in interaction with an individual's social surroundings (Demeritt, 2002;Geider et al., 1994;Proctor, 1998), such as social media sites related to nature tourism (Hunter, 2016). When a visitor looks at the destination through the touristic gaze, it has implications for their expectations and their behaviour at the destination . ...
Visual representations of destinations have always inspired travellers. Commissioned paintings were employed to promote the allure of untouched nature, challenging earlier perceptions of perilous wilderness. Staged photographs, postcards, and popular media served similar promotional purposes. However, the advent of social media has brought about a significant shift. It’s no longer just about sharing holiday snapshots with friends back home. Through global social media platforms, visitors inspire others about where to visit and what to see. This shift from traditional media to user-generated content means that social media users now have an impact on the tourist gaze outside government policies, environmental planning, or visitor management control. At the same time, managers of protected recreational areas have faced the challenge of meeting the needs of increased outdoor recreation and visitations to protected areas while safeguarding their ecological integrity. The increasing influence of social media as travel inspiration highlights the need for a better understanding of how social media impacts visitors and its potential contributions to visitor management. In this study, I explored how social media impacts visitors gaze in protected nature recreational areas, using the example of Kilpisjärvi and the Käsivarsi Wilderness Area in northwestern Finnish Lapland. The research question is divided into three sub-questions: 1) What is posted on social media about visits to Kilpisjärvi and the Käsivarsi Wilderness Area? 2) How does this content reinforce or challenge existing perceptions of nature? 3) What insights do social media and Big Data informationgathering methods offer for visitor monitoring? I situated these research questions within the theoretical framework of the cultural construct of nature. To provide a longitudinal perspective on how our perception of nature is shaped by cultural and social influences, I explored the role of visual arts in wilderness discourses from the Romantic era to the present social media age. Next, I studied social media as a platform reflecting the tourist gaze: it is where the visitors share visual narratives, shaping the interpretation of landscapes and co-creating destination imagery. This characteristic of social media has allowed for several quantitative and qualitative visitor monitoring studies in the last years. The social media data, which was collected in 2019, consists of images that underwent analysis using both a computer vision programme for image analysis and manual categorisation techniques. Textual data was manually classified. I reflect on the consequent quantitative data with netnographic observations and ultimately use spatial analysis to overlay the social media data onto the geological, political, and environmental context of Kilpisjärvi. This study reveals that visitors’ social media posts from Kilpisjärvi often perpetuate colonialist and romanticised imagery of wilderness landscapes. Large open landscapes dominate the selected content, while images depicting individual elements of ecological nature or local everyday life and cultures are relatively few. Social media demonstrates a strong feeling of community, which strengthens, at unprecedented speed, the power of its impact on the tourist gaze, framing nature into sharable images. These results suggest that social media guides visitors to nature destinations primarily to admire landscapes, often overlooking ecological aspects. This tendency may foster a superficial relationship with nature. Furthermore, social media propagates a colonial discourse by marginalizing local and indigenous cultures, rendering them invisible within the landscapes depicted. This study contributes to the evolving research field by providing further evidence of the usability and limitations of social media data for visitor monitoring. Additionally, it advances qualitative interpretations of spatial and quantitative social media data through novel use of viewshed analysis to study visitor preferences. Finally, I have addressed the challenge for visitor management to balance the social media’s benefits in promoting destinations with its potential to shape the tourist gaze and limited representations of nature through shareable images.
... In critical realism, knowledge is viewed as fallible (Proctor, 1998;Jeppesen, 2005;Moon and Blackman, 2014) and it is difficult and even unproductive to attempt a "grand perspective" (Jeppesen, 2005: 4). Knowledge can neither be absolutely objective nor subjective but instead it is a culmination of the interaction of the subject and object (Proctor, 1998;Sandberg, 2005;Moon and Blackman, 2014). ...
... In critical realism, knowledge is viewed as fallible (Proctor, 1998;Jeppesen, 2005;Moon and Blackman, 2014) and it is difficult and even unproductive to attempt a "grand perspective" (Jeppesen, 2005: 4). Knowledge can neither be absolutely objective nor subjective but instead it is a culmination of the interaction of the subject and object (Proctor, 1998;Sandberg, 2005;Moon and Blackman, 2014). The knowledge that we have about reality is partial and socially constructed (Forsyth, 2001;Kvale, 2002;Sandberg, 2005) and this could apply to nature as well. ...
Conversion from livestock and/or crop farming to game farming has been a notable trend on privately owned land in South Africa over the last decades. This change has been characterised by the fast growth of wildlife ranching, reflected in the annual increase in land enclosed by game fences and the high demand for wildlife which is being traded privately and at wildlife auctions. Key environmental and agricultural legislation has been passed since 1994 that impacts the wildlife sector, for instance, legislation on property rights, (re)distribution of resources, and biodiversity conservation in South Africa. The study sought to investigate the extent to which the state can impose effective controls over land use activities related to wildlife conservation on private land, and to explore in detail how governance processes actually work on the ground in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The study explores how the private game farming industry positions itself with respect to existing agricultural and environmental regulations, as well as how the state is responding to the challenge of competing needs over land and wildlife resources that is posed by the game farming sector. The basis of the study was to unravel findings that show interactions, discourses, policy positions, and power relations of stakeholders in the governance of game farming. Realising the importance of the link between environmental governance and institutions, the thesis uses the idea of institutional bricolage by Frances Cleaver to explore the governance of private game farms through various institutional arrangements. Cleaver contends that formal institutions created through abstract principles are not the primary means through which tensions inherent in the use of natural resources are resolved. Greater focus was therefore placed on how rules, norms and shared strategies get stitched together through repetitive interactions by actors involved in game ranching. Critical realism was the guiding ontological philosophy for this study. Data was obtained through in-depth interviews with key informants from major stakeholder organisations and communities linked to the private wildlife sector in KwaZulu-Natal province. I also collected data through visits to game farms and private wildlife reserves, and acted as an observer at game auctions, workshops, and conferences. Documentary evidence collected also served as primary data. Critical discourse analysis (which in this study also incorporates political discourse analysis) was the major analytical framework. Evidence presented in this study points towards the fractured state in the governance of the private game farming sector. The state is not a homogeneous and monolithic entity uniformly applying itself to the regulation of the sector. There is no clear direction on the position of private game farming at the interface of environmental and agricultural regulations. The state lacks a clear vision for the South African countryside as shown by the outstanding land restitution and labour tenant claims on privately owned land earmarked for wildlife production. Instead, role players in the game farming sector are using the available governance arrangements to position themselves strategically for their own benefit, even though some of their activities cause tension. In that process, the private wildlife industry has completely changed the landscape of nature conservation in South Africa. In KwaZulu-Natal the long-standing cordial relations between conservation authorities and private landowners have worked to the advantage of the private landowners. The study argues that this transformation of the institutional processes mediating the governance of the private game farming sector has been a long and enduring arrangement emerging organically over time. Changes in the regulatory regime through new laws, amendment of existing laws and unbalanced implementation of existing laws creates an environment of considerable uncertainty for the game farmers who are the major role players in the wildlife sector, yet within this context private landowners do retain significant space for manoeuvre.
... In critical realism, knowledge is viewed as fallible (Proctor, 1998;Jeppesen, 2005;Moon and Blackman, 2014) and it is difficult and even unproductive to attempt a "grand perspective" (Jeppesen, 2005: 4). Knowledge can neither be absolutely objective nor subjective but instead it is a culmination of the interaction of the subject and object (Proctor, 1998;Sandberg, 2005;Moon and Blackman, 2014). ...
... In critical realism, knowledge is viewed as fallible (Proctor, 1998;Jeppesen, 2005;Moon and Blackman, 2014) and it is difficult and even unproductive to attempt a "grand perspective" (Jeppesen, 2005: 4). Knowledge can neither be absolutely objective nor subjective but instead it is a culmination of the interaction of the subject and object (Proctor, 1998;Sandberg, 2005;Moon and Blackman, 2014). The knowledge that we have about reality is partial and socially constructed (Forsyth, 2001;Kvale, 2002;Sandberg, 2005) and this could apply to nature as well. ...
Conversion from livestock and/or crop farming to game farming has been a notable trend on privately owned land in South Africa over the last decades. This change has been characterised by the fast growth of wildlife ranching, reflected in the annual increase in land enclosed by game fences and the high demand for wildlife which is being traded privately and at wildlife auctions. Key environmental and agricultural legislation has been passed since 1994 that impacts the wildlife sector, for instance, legislation on property rights, (re)distribution of resources, and biodiversity conservation in South Africa. The study sought to investigate the extent to which the state can impose effective controls over land use activities related to wildlife conservation on private land, and to explore in detail how governance processes actually work on the ground in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The study explores how the private game farming industry positions itself with respect to existing agricultural and environmental regulations, as well as how the state is responding to the challenge of competing needs over land and wildlife resources that is posed by the game farming sector. The basis of the study was to unravel findings that show interactions, discourses, policy positions, and power relations of stakeholders in the governance of game farming. Realising the importance of the link between environmental governance and institutions, the thesis uses the idea of institutional bricolage by Frances Cleaver to explore the governance of private game farms through various institutional arrangements. Cleaver contends that formal institutions created through abstract principles are not the primary means through which tensions inherent in the use of natural resources are resolved. Greater focus was therefore placed on how rules, norms and shared strategies get stitched together through repetitive interactions by actors involved in game ranching. Critical realism was the guiding ontological philosophy for this study. Data was obtained through in-depth interviews with key informants from major stakeholder organisations and communities linked to the private wildlife sector in KwaZulu-Natal province. I also collected data through visits to game farms and private wildlife reserves, and acted as an observer at game auctions, workshops, and conferences. Documentary evidence collected also served as primary data. Critical discourse analysis (which in this study also incorporates political discourse analysis) was the major analytical framework. Evidence presented in this study points towards the fractured state in the governance of the private game farming sector. The state is not a homogeneous and monolithic entity uniformly applying itself to the regulation of the sector. There is no clear direction on the position of private game farming at the interface of environmental and agricultural regulations. The state lacks a clear vision for the South African countryside as shown by the outstanding land restitution and labour tenant claims on privately owned land earmarked for wildlife production. Instead, role players in the game farming sector are using the available governance arrangements to position themselves strategically for their own benefit, even though some of their activities cause tension. In that process, the private wildlife industry has completely changed the landscape of nature conservation in South Africa. In KwaZulu-Natal the long-standing cordial relations between conservation authorities and private landowners have worked to the advantage of the private landowners. The study argues that this transformation of the institutional processes mediating the governance of the private game farming sector has been a long and enduring arrangement emerging organically over time. Changes in the regulatory regime through new laws, amendment of existing laws and unbalanced implementation of existing laws creates an environment of considerable uncertainty for the game farmers who are the major role players in the wildlife sector, yet within this context private landowners do retain significant space for manoeuvre.
... Proctor (1998);Demeritt (2001Demeritt ( , 2002.5 Proctor (1998);Forsyth (2001).6 Robbins(2012), p. 20. ...
... Proctor (1998);Demeritt (2001Demeritt ( , 2002.5 Proctor (1998);Forsyth (2001).6 Robbins(2012), p. 20. ...
... Consequently, experiences of nature incorporate an active element of change and should be differentiated from mere contact with nature (Clayton et al., 2016) or nature exposure (Tomasso & Chen, 2022). Subjective perceptions and evaluations of nature likely vary over time, in part because humans are affected by their socio-cultural environment (Hartig, 1993;Proctor, 1998). For instance, the practice and value of friluftsliv is an essential element in the identity of Nordic countries (Gelter, 2000), which influences subjective experiences of nature, especially among Norwegians (Article III). ...
Across cultures, the relationship between humans and nature affects both the well-being of humans and the natural environment. While the concept of nature connectedness is recognized as an important topic in this regard, little is known about the psychological processes that establish and foster it. Positioned at the intersection of environmental psychology and outdoor studies, this article-based thesis adopts a critical realism perspective to explore how social relational emotions, such as kama muta (≈ being moved) and awe, are specifically significant to the process of connecting in and to nature.
... In a larger context, post-positivists believe that humans' subjective inferences are the foundations of our knowledge, rather than any immutable or permanent underpinnings (Onwuegbuzie, 2002). For instance, Proctor (1998) proved that the structure of reality could be precisely affected by contextual aspects such as gender, culture, and individual convictions. These contextual aspects can influence how researchers perceive and interpret data, leading to potential biases in their analysis. ...
The chaotic situation of today’s VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) and TUNA (Turbulent, Uncertain, Novel, Ambiguous) world is bringing more and more active and passive reforms, including positive and negative aspects, that reform business models. Educational institutions are not exceptional. Regarding the nature of educational institutions’ operation in today’s rapidly changing context, school leaders also need to raise concerns similar to those of business managers from other industries: “How do their institutions continuously renovate to adapt to tomorrow’s world?” Thus, based on organisational learning theories, this project aims to establish a framework to evaluate educational leadership’s influence on the organisational knowledge circulation effectiveness within the K-12 education context. The study combines a structured literature review, bibliometrics analysis, and high-order structural equation model analysis on the survey for teachers among Vietnamese public and private K-12 schools. First, this project proposed and validated a toolset to measure educational leadership as a combination of principalship and teacher leadership. Second, it revealed new insights about the impacts of educational leadership, knowledge circulation, and school culture on teachers’ job satisfaction. The project also offers insights into teachers’ professional development activities across various school types and grade levels in Vietnam, which contribute to further continuous renovation of Vietnamese K-12 schools, and diversify the corpus of educational leadership studies. This project’s results extended the applications of organisational learning theories in K-12 education, as well as can be adopted to establish further knowledge management frameworks in other settings such as higher education or vocational education.
... This notion of nature as socially constructed, which has been extensively discussed in academia (e.g. Bird, 1987;Ducarme and Couvet, 2020;Eder, 1996;Proctor, 1998;Ryan, 2015) is pertinent to this topic because it exposes the tensions between protected nature and accessibility in a highly tangible way: vast, untouched nature areas, often labelled 'wilderness', versus built infrastructure. ...
Physical and social barriers have long hindered people with disabilities from full participation in outdoor recreation and nature experiences. As spending time in nature, where protected areas constitute an important arena for nature engagement, is increasingly connected to improved health and well-being, there is a need for nature activities and experiences in protected areas to become more accessible and inclusive. However, the provision of accessible protected areas for outdoor recreation and nature activities poses challenges for planners and managers of such areas, as there are elements of contradiction between interests of accessibility and nature conservation. This qualitative study examines how providers of nature experiences and outdoor activities, such as governmental authorities, outdoor recreation associations and nature-based tourism entrepreneurs in Sweden view and practice the balancing of these interests, through perspectives of the social construction of nature, inclusion, and collaboration. Findings indicate that interests in nature conservation generally take precedence over measures of accessibility and that such initiatives are directed to a few, designated areas. There is also an apparent lack of knowledge about how people with disabilities wish to engage with nature, which hinders full access to nature. It is therefore important to include people with disabilities in the process of developing accessibility in protected areas and promote collaboration between stakeholders, to avoid excluding decisions. The study concludes by stating the necessity to challenge the viewpoint of accessible infrastructure for outdoor activities in protected areas as ‘ruining’ the nature experience, in order for access to nature to become a truly democratic right.
... The inclusion of groups with different relationships to drugs is intended to allow comparisons in views held between groups and understand how different life experiences shape discourse about addiction and volition in the context of drug use. We also explore whether three paradigms, i.e., three sets of understandings about the nature of reality and knowledge (realism, relativism, pragmatism) [24][25][26] can reflect stakeholders' understandings of disordered drug use and volition. To simplify (see Table 1 in methods for greater elaboration), realism (or objectivism) admits that things exist independently of epistemic agents, such that objective knowledge about things is both achievable and accessible [27,28]. ...
Addiction is a common condition affecting millions of people worldwide of which only a small proportion receives treatment. The development and use of healthcare services is influenced by how addiction is understood (e.g., a condition to treat, a shameful condition to stigmatize), notably with respect to how volition is impacted (e.g., addiction as a choice or a disease beyond one’s control). Through semi-structured qualitative interviews, we explore the implicit views and understandings of addiction and volition across three stakeholder groups: people with lived experience of addiction, clinicians with experience treating addiction, and members of the public without lived experience of addiction. We notably examine whether three paradigms, i.e., three philosophical sets of understandings about the nature of reality and knowledge (realism, relativism, pragmatism) reflect how stakeholders envision addiction and volition in the context of addiction. The use of these paradigms allows for the characterization of different stances on addiction and volition and an assessment of the coherence of beliefs about these matters. Our findings demonstrate that few participants relied on a single epistemic paradigm when describing their views. Furthermore, there were notable differences in understandings of volition between the clinician group, who were more oriented toward pragmatism, and people with lived experience of addiction, who were less oriented toward realism. Despite its limitations, our study suggests that a greater appreciation for the complexity of views held by different stakeholders about addiction and volition could help critically assess the search for coherence expressed in academic and policy debates.
... Debates around wilderness concern both the ontological, the extent of physical alteration of nature by people, and the epistemological, the understanding and conceptualisation of these spaces (Proctor, 1998). This study places an emphasis on the former. ...
... Personalised ecology is concerned with interactions with nature. There has long been debate as to where the limits to what constitutes nature should lie and definitions can differ markedly, particularly across cultures and disciplines (e.g., Wohlwill, 1983;Proctor, 1998;Wickson, 2008;Bratman et al., 2012;Hartig et al., 2014;CBD, 2022). We use the same definition here as we have employed in other recent studies about human-nature interactions (e.g., Gaston, 2020, 2022), in which nature encompasses individual living organisms through to ecosystems, excluding those that are not self-sustaining. ...
The future of biodiversity lies not just in the strategies and mechanisms by which ecosystems and species are practically best protected from anthropogenic pressures. It lies also, and perhaps foremost, in the many billions of decisions that people make that, intentionally or otherwise, shape their impact on nature and the conservation policies and interventions that are implemented. Personalised ecology – the set of direct sensory interactions that each of us has with nature – is one important consideration in understanding the decisions that people make. Indeed, it has long been argued that people’s personalised ecologies have powerful implications, as captured in such concepts as biophilia, extinction of experience and shifting baselines. In this paper, we briefly review the connections between personalised ecology and the future of biodiversity, and the ways in which personalised ecologies might usefully be enhanced to improve that future.
... This article follows a political ecology approach (e.g., Robbins 2004, Benjaminsen andSvarstad 2009), dealing jointly with power relations (e.g., Watts 1983), political narratives (e.g., Roe 1994) and public policies (e.g., Blaikie and Muldsavin 2004) in the environmental field. Using data from the natural sciences, particularly with regard to climate change and ecological restoration (Blaikie 1999(Blaikie , 2001, this paper is also rooted in critical realism (Proctor 1998). ...
In January 2021, the Great Green Wall Accelerator was announced at the third One Planet Summit in Paris. Based on the notion of acceleration developed by Harmut Rosa and using the idea of conflicting temporalities in the study of social-ecological systems, this article analyzes how the political will to accelerate the Great Green Wall reveals power dynamics between Western and Sahelian countries. We put in tension this acceleration of the Great Green Wall with (1) temporalities with respect to nature and reforestation, and (2) temporalities of life among the Sahelian populations. Whereas our contribution is mostly theoretical, building on Hartmut Rosa's work, we illustrate our approach in terms of political ecology and anthropology based on an empirical case study of the Ferlo region in Senegal, a key region with respect to the Great Green Wall initiative. Our analysis shows that by controlling the temporality of the Great Green Wall program through this Accelerator, Western powers dominate the Sahelian states, making the Accelerator part of a neo-colonial approach. Moreover, the desire to accelerate the Great Green Wall with a massive investment in a short span of time corresponds to the perception of a nature made available, incompatible with the time of ecological restoration. Finally, the acceleration advocated by Western economic liberalism seems to be coming up against resistance of local populations rooted in an identity that values community solidarity, the stability of social structures, and closeness between humans, their herds, and nature.
... Failure to address the disparities in norms, values, and knowledges that exist between these natures can undermine coexistence (Carter and Linnell, 2016). Stakeholders' multiple natures are related to their worldviews, or 'the multiple truths about, or ways of knowing and understanding the world' (Alexander and Draper, 2019, p318;Proctor, 1998). Worldviews also encompass beliefs and behaviors towards human and nonhuman beings and phenomena, including wildlife (Koltko-Rivera, 2004). ...
Conservation in the human-dominated Anthropocene involves negotiations among diverse stakeholders. However, these stakeholder inclusion schemes are often superficial, leading to unsuccessful interventions. Here we apply the theory of multinaturalism as an operational starting point for stakeholder engagement efforts, to deepen local involvement and work towards coexistence. Multinaturalism posits that natures are multiple and can be known in many ways, and that many natures can coexist in the same geographical space. Using the northern jaguar population in the US-Mexico borderlands as a case study, we investigate, through semi-structured interviews, the natural realities (‘natures’) of various stakeholders involved in borderland jaguar conservation. We define a nature as an individual’s or group’s perceptions, knowledge, values, attitudes, and actions towards jaguars. We construct each stakeholder group’s natural reality of this jaguar population through applied thematic analysis, and we identify which aspects of stakeholders’ natures are similar and different, particularly across the international border. For example, we found that many conservationists and activists value the jaguar as an apex predator because its presence signifies ecosystem health and balance, while some ranchers hold existence value for the jaguar’s power and beauty, but resent its role as a predator, due to potential for conflict with livestock. This information provides a greater understanding of differences in realities that may cause conflicts over wildlife-related decisions, and can be used by local conservation actors to facilitate collaboration in a complex transboundary region. This interdisciplinary study highlights the importance of investigating the human dimensions of conservation completely, while treating all forms of knowledge about nature seriously and equally. Due to the unique nature of human-wildlife interactions, each conservation situation requires bespoke consideration, and particularly in diverse landscapes, a multinatural approach offers a novel path towards sustainable human-wildlife coexistence.
... That is all Zimmerer and Bassett have to say about critical realism. Moreover, the reference, Eden (2001), does not say anything about critical realism except to pass the ball on to Proctor (1998). ...
This theoretical article takes issue with how 'new materialisms' have been employed in political ecology, and it explores the 'depth ontology' of critical realism developed by Roy Bhaskar as an alternative to the 'flat ontologies' of new materialism. While political ecology was initially informed by political economy, the field has become much more heterogeneous and includes various post-structuralist, socio-constructivist, and new materialist approaches. Most, though not all, of these approaches typically destabilize science, try to break with problematic dichotomies (especially nature-society), distribute agency, and sometimes entertain the idea that multiple realities may exist. This contribution argues that new materialism, in Bhaskar's language, may be characterized as 'actualism' and identifies its associated problematic implications. While critical realism has occasionally been invoked in political ecology to give credibility to the external reality of nature, I argue that the full potential of critical realism for political ecology has yet to be explored. Holding that the world is stratified, with the 'real' not limited to events and interactions, creates the possibility of exploring 'unseen' mechanisms and trends.
... As a researcher, I adopt a conception of constructivism as a paradigm that perceives of a biophysical world that exists beyond and irrespective of human existence, but that knowledge, understanding and experiences of that world are always socially constructed, subjective and dynamic, resulting in multiple realities. Without delving too deeply into the nuances of different variations of constructivism (see, e.g., Demeritt, 1998), the perspective taken in this research diverges slightly from critical realism in the sense that critical realists tend to have more confidence in the possibility of knowing reality and establishing truth, even if it always a partial truth (Proctor, 1998 (Creswell, 2014). One of the challenges with a constructivist approach is navigating what is spoken and unspoken; it requires eliciting responses from a range of participants and seeking methods that incorporate both 'official' and 'local' forms of knowledge (Robbins, 2020). ...
Environmental offsets aim to find a balance between economic growth and biodiversity conservation by compensating for the adverse environmental impacts of development. In Colombia, environmental offsets are being put forward as the engine for a new sustainable development model. Colombia is considered a pioneer in environmental policy in Latin America, has various environmental compensation instruments and is currently taking a lead in the region in biodiversity offsetting.
This research examines environmental offsetting in policy and practice in Colombia, tracing the evolution of offsetting policy since the 1970s and the drivers behind the latest biodiversity offset regulations. Crossing the landscapes of Colombia, from rural fincas in the Andes and the valley of the Magdalena Medio, to the offices of industry, government and NGOs, this thesis examines the subject of offsetting and the meanings of biodiversity from different angles, revealing the importance of biodiversity as a national asset, a symbol of identity and inseparable from cultural diversity.
Through the use of semi-structured interviews, policy analysis and a case study of the hydroelectric dam Hidrosogamoso and forest offsets implemented in Parque Nacional Natural Serranía de los Yariguíes, this research offers empirical evidence of the successes, multidimensional challenges, contradictory policies and contested practices associated with offsets. Drawing on political ecology and peace and conflict studies, centred on the themes of biodiversity and conflict, the research explores the conflicts that arise as a result of direct, systemic, and cultural violence towards people and nature, revealing parallels between a socio-ecological conflict at the impact site and the offset site. It draws attention to the threats facing human rights and environmental defenders amid historical patterns of colonisation and extractivism, land use conflicts and current post-conflict peacebuilding challenges.
This study examines the discursive constructions of biodiversity and highlights the social impacts of offset projects implemented in a protected area, as well as the practical and ethical challenges of attempting to offset environmental harm, challenging win-win and no net loss narratives promoted under green growth agendas. It argues that by creating a reliance on extractive development and transnational capital to carry out conservation, offsets are a double-edged sword that risk becoming a new tool of (neo)extractivism that is ultimately environmentally and socially unsustainable.
... Drawing from multiple scientific and epistemic traditions can create paradoxes that are difficult to reconcile (e.g., postpositivist views of entropy coexisting alongside constructivist views of social identities), and is influenced by the perspectives of experts involved in theory-building. 76 Such internal tensions are intrinsic to transdisciplinary undertaking and should inform further research and practice dialogue. ...
Context:
Patients and community members are engaged in nearly every aspect of health systems. However, the engagement literature remains siloed and fragmented, which makes it difficult to connect engagement efforts with broader goals of health, equity and sustainability. Integrated and inclusive models of engagement are needed to support further transformative efforts.
Methods:
This article describes the Ecology of Engagement, an integrated model of engagement. The model posits that: (1) Health ecosystems include all members of society engaged in health; (2) Engagement is the 'together' piece of health and healthcare (e.g., caring for each other, preventing, researching, teaching and building policies together); (3) Health ecosystems and engagement are interdependent from each other, both influencing health, equity, resilience and sustainability.
Conclusion:
The Ecology of Engagement offers a common sketch to foster dialogue on engagement across health ecosystems. The model can drive cooperative efforts with patients and communities on health, equity, resilience and sustainability.
Patients and public contribution:
Three of the authors have lived experiences as patients. One has a socially disclosed identity as a patient partner leader with extensive experience in engagement (individual care, education, research, management and policy). Two authors have significant experience as patients and informal caregivers, which were mobilized in descriptive illustrations. A fourth author has experience as an engaged citizen in health policy debates. All authors have professional lived experience in health (manager, researcher, health professional, consultant and educator). Six patient and caregiver partners with lived experience of engagement (other than the authors) contributed important revisions and intellectual content.
... For pragmatism, it is not that knowledge is relative but reality is plural, which can always be composed and articulated otherwise. In this way, pragmatism offers a middle ground between realism and constructivism, where nature exists in a concrete sense but is constantly mutating (Proctor, 1998), not least due to human activity. This does not indicate pragmatism's lack of 'humility' to the 'non-human environment', as British Philosopher Bertrand Russell (1996Russell ( [1946: 737) remarked, amounting to a charge of 'cosmic impiety', of which restoration ecologists have sometimes been accused. ...
The UN’s Decade of Ecosystem Restoration commenced in June 2021, with the expectation that ecological restoration will be vastly scaled-up internationally. Millions of hectares of the earth’s surface is projected to be restored, from forests and peatland to rivers, reefs and grasslands. This will transform restoration from a predominantly localized, community-driven field to a highly capitalized, professional activity. As the renowned biologist E. O. Wilson proposed, the twenty-first century certainly does look likely to be characterized by restoration. And yet, thus far, the still emerging field of ecological restoration has been dominated by the natural sciences, in both theory and practice, neglecting broader questions of how to live in and with restored landscapes. This paper contends that if restoration is to be significantly expanded over the next decade, the social sciences and humanities must be involved to ensure its purpose is given adequate scrutiny, by engaging wider publics of interest in scheme planning, design and implementation. This is crucial given the dominance of natural capital accounting in restoration, which privileges economic reasoning over alternative, more radical forms. Pragmatism, which has a substantive philosophical interest in the relationship between humans and their environment, can offer a distinctive orientation to inquiry conducive to collaboration between the natural and social disciplines. Focusing on waterway restoration in the United Kingdom, and drawing on social and natural science literature, this paper outlines a pragmatist research agenda that recognizes multiplicity in nature, advocates experimentation in human-environment relations, and foregrounds community in democratic renewal. The paper considers not only ways that pragmatism can inform restoration but how restoration can advance a pragmatist agenda for invigorating public life. This encourages scholars to think with not only against restoration, attending to composition as well as critique, as part of a political urban ecology.
... In general, political ecologists tend to search for knowledge plurality and science omnicompetence in their research (Nader, 1996). Multiple and overlapping contexts and positionalities will nearly always make searching for the one 'right' version of a story a ponderous and toilsome exercise (Proctor, 1998). 1 Harding (2015), suggests a need for greater "modesty" within efforts to provide a ""one true account" that perfectly reflects reality at any particular moment…" This is because scientists and knowledge purveyors always participate in "inevitable and necessary interactions with networks, communities, or social movements" (169) that will unavoidably produce multiple, hybrid and situated understandings (Haraway, 1988). In short, and as Mol (2002) and others (see Goldman and Turner, 2011) argue, truths are rarely universal, totalizing or absolute. ...
In this paper I examine our current post-truth politics and use the concept ‘disingenuous natures’ to describe the intersecting knowledge constructs, management practices and material conditions that enable authoritative knowledge of human-environment interactions to take hold and persist. These conditions are disingenuous because they are both artifactual and generative of social-ecological reifications, knowledge distortions and information deficiencies, yet retain a position of authority and legitimacy in decision-making contexts. I argue that researchers seeking to confront our current post-truth wave lack a clear framework for describing the process through which post-truthism unfolds and disingenuous natures are produced. I describe five interrelated ‘knowledge modalities of concern’ that illuminate key elements of this process. I argue for continued engagement with these knowledge types by critical scholars of the environment because they pose serious challenges for progressive environmental governance.
... Pourtant, la critique bénéficie de quelques lettres de noblesse dans l'histoire des sciences sociales : s'agirait-il de présenter l'Anthropocène sous un angle philosophique relevant du « réalisme critique », dont l'ontologie est revendiquée par la plupart des sciences naturelles, y compris par certains géographes (Proctor, 1998) ? Sans doute pas, puisque dès le préambule il a été déclaré que la nature n'était qu'un construit social. ...
... 46 Reckwitz 2002 Daseinsform schlechthin und nicht mehr als besondere Sphäre des menschlichen Daseins begriffen wird. 47 Der Thompson/Ellis/Wildavsky 1990, S. 25-36;Grundmann/Stehr 2004, S. 261-262;Nöth 2002a, S. 59-68;Proctor 1998; hinsichtlich der Konstruktion von »Natur« durch das Recht Delaney 2001. 48 Ort 2003Mintzel 1993, S. 174-175. ...
... In environmental matters, realism is key. As Proctor (1998) puts it in response to the constructionist charge, "it clearly matters whether a certain species is or is not close to extinction, or wastewater discharge from a particular factory is or is not having significant deleterious downstream effects, or current anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions will or will not likely result in unprecedented rates of climate change. Truth-claims concerning the state of nature may not be a sufficient condition to justify environmental action, but they are in many cases a necessary condition." ...
This thesis is about whether it is a good idea to place monetary value on nature, to remedy the fact that we treat it as having no particular value to us humans, although it clearly has. The thesis is based on five research papers that can be said to position themselves on opposite sides in the debate on monetisation of nature. The first two papers consider the basis of neoclassical environmental economics and apply the value theory and valuation methods from normative neoclassical welfare theory, on which monetisation of nature is based. The other three papers examine, with increasing degrees of criticism, this theory of value and especially its central assumption that value can be derived from people’s choices, or “revealed preferences”.
The thesis itself is a “reflective story” about the journey I made as I learned to think about and understand neoclassical environmental economics in new ways. I reflect upon my work from a philosophy of science perspective, consider how for-granted-taken ideas from neoclassical economics affect environmental economic analysis and its conclusions, and examine the subject of value and valuation from what has become my new theoretical standpoint, ecological economics. It concerns meta-theoretical questions about ontology, that is, ideas in a research discipline about how things really are (what is), and epistemology, ideas about how researchers can provide relevant knowledge about reality. Such ideas are often taken for granted in neoclassical economic analysis and how they affect the analysis and its conclusions is not seldom unreflective.
In the thesis, I move from explaining why neoclassical environmental economists advocate monetisation and pricing of nature as important solutions to environmental problems, to exemplifying how this turned out in research projects intended to serve as decision support in practice, and then to exploring and clarifying an alternative theory of value and valuation from ecological economics based on value pluralism and so-called deliberative valuation. In a concluding discussion, I point out that there are reasons to be sceptical about whether monetisation of nature is the right path to follow if we want to change our unsustainable relationship with nature and tackle the serious ecological crises we currently face. I show that monetisation of nature in practice requires a considerable amount of pragmatism, since the applied version of the theory deviates far from its idealised claims about the possibility to capture actual, total values. I also show that the descriptive (so-called positive) part of neoclassical theory and its normative part overlap in a way that makes it very difficult to speak of “objective” science in environmental economics. Instead, and despite strong recognition in the discipline that environmental problems are “market failures”, neoclassical theory has an ethical and ideological bias that favours individuals’ freedom of choice and market solutions, at the expense of collective decision-making and discussions about values that cannot be quantified.
The important contribution of the thesis is that it clarifies the consequences of a central idea in the theory behind environmental economic analysis, namely the idea of values as commensurable, that is, measurable in one single unit. This idea links to the misleading conception of choices as “trade-offs”, where all choices are essentially viewed as the result of people’s constant exchange of costs and benefits within themselves in every choice they make, with the result that everything gets better (or at least not worse). Based on my research, I suggest that, in reality, people do not generally “make” trade-offs. If anything, people try to avoid them, especially when it comes to difficult choices, such as those concerning the true value of nature, because such choices involve moral conflicts between values that are incommensurable. As a basis for valuing transformational change, monetisation is therefore unsuitable, as it conceals rather than reveals the ethical dilemmas that are the very definition of sustainability problems and causes us to search for the efficient or so-called “optimal” solutions claimed possible in neoclassical theory and rhetoric, although such solutions do not exist.
What we need instead is to represent public opinion in environmental decision-making in ways that do not conceal people’s actual moral considerations. Environmental valuation is political. It must be done together with others through reason-sensitive means, where people’s actual experiences of value conflicts – within us and between us – can be deliberated before making decisions. This makes decision-making more complex, but as an alternative to monetisation, this realism is not necessarily unrealistic. The fact that incommensurability is grounded in human experience means that the complexity of social and environmental decision-making has a real counterpart in conflicts within ourselves. One could see this as a potentiality, because we may have more confidence in people’s ability to recognise the relevance and necessity of less simplification and more complexity in decision-making. People need to “deliberate values” rather than “consuming” them and being expected to express all sorts of values through money.
... Much literature has concentrated on questioning the pristine myth, both in environmental history and in political ecology. Conflictive debates and severe misunderstandings occurred about what it actually means to question the idea of wilderness (Crist and Hargrove 2004;Proctor 1998). Since the colonial conquests, a central element of the societal relationships with nature in the Americas has been the extraction of mineral resourcesespecially gold, silver, tin, copper, coal, oil. ...
The invention of the Americas in the wake of the European conquests was based upon imaginaries and appropriations of nature (→ America, I/2). The idealization of the potential of soil and subsoil, the idea of frontier and physical proximity with the “wild,” the perception of great distances and vast geographic spaces constituted social representations of nature in the colonial situation that persist until today (→ Foundational Discourses, III/8). The colonizers appropriated mineral resources on a large-scale and later on used part of the conquered territory, its soil, water, and its people to establish plantations for export products such as sugar, cotton, indigo, and later on bananas, coffee, and other products often introduced from other continents (→ Colonial Economies, I/4), which introduced complete environmental changes (→ Columbian Exchange, I/6). Colonialism (→ Colonial Rule, I/5) brought large-scale environmental transformations, making the interaction between humans and nature a central issue in the formation of modern American societies during the 19th and 20th centuries. The present entry addresses the concept of nature that derives from this history, and its impact on power relations, inequalities, and conflicts within and between different parts of the continent, as well as for the Americas in a global context. Rather than analyzing material change of the environment over time, the intersection between knowledge and politics is emphasized, from which new power constellations have emerged in the past five centuries, while also discussing existing and possible alternatives to the modern power regimes as ways to overcome the nature/culture divide.
... Critical realism offers a perspective that permits reality to be reclaimed for itself away from the philosophical ideologies such as empiricism or idealism, having been tacitly or explicitly defined in terms of some specific human attribute [65,66]. Reality is determined by the structures that create these effects which exist independently of us, and distinction can be made between experiences, events and causal mechanisms, epistemic process (related to knowledge) and ontology (as types of being) under praxis (practice, rather than theory). ...
Metacybernetics refers to the higher cybernetic orders that arise in living system agencies. Agencies are complex, and for them to be viable and hence survive, they require both stability and uncertainty reduction. Metacybernetics is defined through a metasystem hierarchy, and is mostly known through 1st and 2nd order cybernetics. In this exploratory paper the purpose is to create a framework that can underpin metacybernetics and explain the relationship between different cy-bernetic orders. The framework is built on agency theory which has both substructural and super-structural dimensions. Substructure has an interest in stability, is concerned with the generation of higher cybernetic orders, and is serviced by horizontal recursion. Superstructure is concerned with uncertainty reduction by uncovering hidden material or regulatory relationships, and is serviced by vertical recursion. Philosophical aspects to the framework are discussed, making distinction between global rationality through critical realism, and local rationality that relates to different cyber-netic orders that correspond to bounding paradigms like positivism and constructivism.
This commentary echoes Robert Lake's epistemological critiques of theory as Truth-seeking or Understanding-oriented in a material world of contentious socio-spatial change. But instead of blaming incessant theory culture, I make the case for a kind of mid-range theory that might offer practically adequate social knowledge for positive real-world interventions. In line with pragmatist thinking in critical Geography, I argue that context-specific explanatory theory can overcome the sort of Cartesian anxiety and academic escapism identified in Lake's paper. Good theory is about conceptualising and teasing out those analytical connections within thick descriptions that can shed useful light on the purposive practices of actors and their constitutive power relations and ultimately make the difference through illuminating empirical outcomes and the possibilities for changing them. While we should indeed resist the temptation of ‘theoretical theory,’ explanatory theory must go on.
Protected areas globally serve as crucial sanctuaries for biodiversity, playing a pivotal role in conserving endangered species and maintaining ecological balance. In the United Kingdom (UK), 25% of land is currently designated as public protected areas and discussions are underway regarding the implementation of new protected areas, including the establishment of new National Parks in all four nations of the UK. Wild places have an important role to play in understanding and deciding where public protected areas should or could be. People form profound connections to wild places locally and nationally. We used two online surveys to gather information on the UK public's local and national favourite wild places, and the characteristics of those places which make them their top choice. Our analysis revealed that respondents preferred different wild places based on their survey group, with significant differences in the importance placed on characteristics like ‘Accessibility’, ‘Nature’ and ‘Scenery’ across local and national scales. Demographic factors, including age and settlement, had some impact, but the overall importance of characteristics like ‘Peace and Quiet’ and ‘Nature’ were consistently high across both surveys. Recognising the prevalence of favourite wild places outside of designated areas underscores the importance of engaging the different viewpoints of the public in conservation initiatives, and indicates that public support for conservation might extend beyond officially protected regions.
In this article, I undertake an archaeology of urban “wastelands.” In doing so I ask how such places are materially and conceptually “made” and examine the effects that such labeling has on how postindustrial urban sites are used and valued. Taking examples from the capital cities of England and Scotland (London and Edinburgh), I show that the meaning of “waste” at such sites is temporally and socially contingent. Establishing certainty between which landscapes are “wasted” and which are not can prove difficult, and, in some cases, archaeologists themselves may be implicated in labeling and then “cleansing” wastelands, with archaeology operating as a form of waste management. While wastelands may appear as dissonant and associated with negativity or decay at first glance, I show that these places can also facilitate surprisingly generative and creative uses and provide new forms of heritage value.
This book provides a review of the multitude of conservation concepts, both from a scientific, philosophical, and social science perspective, asking how we want to shape our relationships with nature as humans, and providing guidance on which conservation approaches can help us to do this.
Nature conservation is a contested terrain and there is not only one idea about what constitutes conservation but many different ones, which sometimes are conflicting. Employing a conceptual and historical analysis, this book sorts and interprets the differing conservation concepts, with a special emphasis on narrative analysis as a means for describing human–nature relationships and for linking conservation science to practice and to society at large. Case studies illustrate the philosophical issues and help to analyse major controversies in conservation biology. While the main focus is on Western ideas of conservation, the book also touches upon non-Western, including indigenous, concepts. The approach taken in this book emphasises the often implicit strategic and societal dimensions of conservation concepts, including power relations. In finding a path through the multitude of concepts, the book showcases that it is necessary to maintain the plurality of approaches, in order to successfully address different situations and societal choices. Overall, this book highlights the very tension which conservation biology must withstand between science and society: between what is possible and what we want individually or as a society or even more what is desirable. Bringing some order into this multitude will support more efficient conservation and conservation biology.
Objective: To understand how students are coping one year after campuses were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants: Students at a large state university in Midwestern USA. Method: Sequential mixed method study. A photo-survey of students' experiences was conducted as part of an ethnographic study of "college life." Student researchers and faculty collaboratively analyzed photos and accompanying text for coping strategies. Association of coping strategies with respondents' characteristics was assessed with inferential statistics. Results: Most respondents alluded to the negative mental toll of the pandemic and predominantly utilized emotion-focused coping strategies. Non-binary students and students who lived off but close to campus appeared to have fewer coping strategies than their peers. Conclusion: The experiences of diverse student sub-populations differ. Photos give researchers a unique vista into students' experiences. Students - as co-researchers - can help campuses understand the stresses associated with their college experiences and how they are coping.
Cyanobacterial blooms are expanding around the globe in frequency and intensity. Using cultural models to unravel local meanings, this study explores how stakeholders (fishers, aquaculturalists, and regional experts) from the Nyanza Gulf of Lake Victoria understand cyanobacterial blooms and their impact on human health. The study also examines resource user and expert perceptions of how these blooms have impacted the livelihoods of fishers and aquaculturalists, and how regional experts have responded. Semi-structured interviews (35 total; fishers and aquaculturalists [25], experts [10]) were used to describe cultural models used by different groups. Multiple perceptions of cyanobacterial blooms and their impact on human health emerged, influenced by the social locations of study participants. With the burden of environmental degradation unequally allocated because of dynamic social constructs, these findings reveal the importance of improving the flow of information between those involved in the design and implementation of policies and those impacted by them.
Theatre of the Imagination aims to demonstrate that making artefacts provokes a transformative way of thinking about the world while fostering independent learning skills in children. Signature pedagogies from art and design education help to build a learning culture that embraces the concept of childhood as a time of being and becoming. The workshops set out to explore the potential of making as a way of thinking in primary education through a constructionist epistemology, which demonstrates how sharing three-dimensional artefacts can help cultivate mutual respect. Transition design thinking is introduced to foster a socially and culturally inclusive vision for the future. Children and their teachers are encouraged to undertake interventions aimed at incremental change in the way we collaborate with others who live locally and with those who live on other continents. The UN global goals for sustainable development framework is used to set up situations worthy of debate at a time of social and environmental disruption. Insights emerging from Theatre of the Imagination suggest new ways of exploiting the value of design and making in mainstream primary education at a time of impecunity. Making as thinking provokes reflection and helps children and teachers to visualize ideas about how we may protect non-human and human life on earth.
This article provides a rationale for adopting the critical realism (CR) instead of pragmatism paradigm when researching skilled migrants' (SMs) workplace integration in Australia. While the extant SM literature has provided an abundance of ‘explanations' reflecting the difficulties SMs face, it appears almost impossible for SMs to overcome some challenges such as discrimination or lack of local work experience. However, there is not a sufficient explanation for why many SMs have successfully integrated within the host labour market despite facing such difficulties. This study was designed to challenge what may have been ‘taken-for-granted' in the literature and explore the causal relationship behind the SMs’ difficulties and success. The CR paradigm provides a new way to examine the problems SMs face and their strategies to overcome such issues. It also empowers researchers to look beyond the empirical layer of evidence and explore how and why things happen the way they do.
This paper examines the relationship between pragmatism and critical realism, first as alternative philosophies for the social sciences in general, and second, as an illustration, in the social study of monetary valuation. The paper argues that both traditions are internally diverse. Hence, the relations between the two are complex, with both substantial overlaps and real differences revealed in encounters between them. Perhaps the most significant difference is pragmatism’s distrust of invocations of structural power in social explanations, whereas realism encourages them, in interaction with other explanatory elements. The paper problematizes claims that recent work in the study of value is predominantly pragmatist. Nevertheless, it argues that pragmatist influence has encouraged valuation studies to focus on the micro level at the expense of the macro. From a realist perspective, however, there is much to be gained from an approach that embraces both micro and macro levels and the relations between them.
Case study research provides the researcher with the opportunity to decide the most convincing epistemological orientation. Such versatility is nonetheless embedded in the assumption of objectivity contends G. Griffin in Difference in View: Women and Modernism, which speaks of an “abstract masculinity” intended here as the assumption of universal humanity where men's and women's experiences are melted into one experience. Case study research, this contribution contends, even when about women, hinders the experience of women, an experience that is always situated, relational, and engaged. In other words, ontologically, it is argued here, the reality of women's lives is absent from the domain of case study research because the language adopted when framing case study research is still very much a language that talks about women, but it does not allow women to speak.
Wilderness has been conceptualized as an ideology and simulacrum, and wilderness refers to specific expectations of the landscape it is attributed to including ideas of land untouched by humans. In the USA and other countries, parks are often synonymous with wild lands and wilderness. The perception of parks as wilderness increasingly comes into conflict with efforts to perform extractive industry on these lands such as hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Using a case study of fracking in Pennsylvania and how the industry was banned from expansion within State Parks and State Forests, we argue that parks are symbols of wilderness and that industrial activity within parks damages the perception of these spaces as protected land. Wilderness as an ideology and simulacrum can be a powerful tool for aiding in protection of wild spaces such as those within park boundaries and bolsters support for moving these lands primarily to being for tourism and recreation.
Sport, Künste, Wissenschaft und Personenaustausch stellen zentrale - aber viel zu wenig beachtete - Aspekte der Nationalstaatlichkeit und der internationalen Politik dar. Erstmals wird in diesem Buch in einer »Theorie der Außenkulturpolitik« gezeigt, dass sich Staaten durch Kultur zugleich voneinander differenzieren wie auch in ein positives Verhältnis zueinander treten können - und sich gerade in dieser Widersprüchlichkeit reproduzieren. Auf der methodologischen Grundlage von Umberto Ecos Zeichentheorie verbindet Patrick Schreiner postklassische Ansätze der Nationalismusforschung mit poststrukturalistischen Ansätzen der Internationalen Beziehungen, um eine Theorie der Außenkulturpolitik zu entwickeln.
Wieso wandelt sich Kooperation in Konflikt? Wie lässt sich der dynamische Wechsel in der deutsch-amerikanischen Sicherheitsstruktur in Afghanistan und im Irak erklären? Dieses Problem geht weit über den konkreten Gegenstand hinaus, berührt es doch auch grundlegende Fragen: etwa die nach der menschlichen Natur oder jene nach dem Verhältnis von Akteur und Struktur bzw. von Ideen und Materie. Auch die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen wissenschaftlicher Analysen bedürfen einer Reflexion. Auf Basis des Critical Realism stellt sich Tim Griebel diesen Fragen und rekonstruiert die Dynamik von Liebe und Macht innerhalb einer historischen Sicherheitsstruktur mithilfe einer korpuslinguistischen kritisch-realistischen Diskursanalyse.
Many forest-related problems are considered relevant today. One might think of deforestation, illegal logging and biodiversity loss. Yet, many governance initiatives have been initiated to work on their solutions. This Element takes stock of these issues and initiatives by analysing different forest governance modes, shifts and norms, and by studying five cases (forest sector governance, forest legality, forest certification, forest conservation, participatory forest management). Special focus is on performance: are the many forest governance initiatives able to change established practices of forest decline (Chloris worldview) or are they doomed to fail (Hydra worldview)? The answer will be both, depending on geographies and local conditions. The analyses are guided by discursive institutionalism and philosophical pragmatism. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
The twofold aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the current state of resilience research with regard to climate change in the social sciences and propose a research agenda. Resilience research among social scientists is characterized by much more diversity today than a few decades ago. Different definitions and understandings of resilience appear in publications during the last 10 years. Resilience research increasingly bears the mark of social constructivism, a relative newcomer compared to the more long-standing tradition of naturalism. There are also approaches that are indebted to both “naturalism” and “constructivism”, which, of course, come in many varieties. Based on our overview of recent scholarship, which is far from being exhaustive, we have identified six research avenues that arguably deserve continued attention. They combine naturalist and constructivist insights and approaches so that human agency, reflexivity, and considerations of justice and equity are incorporated into systems thinking research or supplement such research. Ultimately, we believe that the overarching challenge for future research is to ensure that resilience to climate change does not compromise sustainability and considerations of justice (including environmental, climate, and energy justice).
Objective
This study seeks to understand the experiences of college student as they completed their education during the COVID-19 lockdown. Participants: Students at a large 4-year college in Midwestern USA. Methods: We conducted a photo-survey of students’ experiences during the lockdown. Student researchers and faculty collaborated to analyze images and texts in a way that privileged students’ interpretation. Results: Students frequently reported worsening mental health during the lockdown. Nonacademic aspects of students’ lives such as work and the home environment significantly contributed to perceived stress. Students, especially freshmen coped maladaptively with unmet psychosocial and educational needs. Faculty may underestimate the indirect impact of the pandemic on students’ lives and academic outcomes. Conclusion: Perspectives presented herein add the crucial voice of students to ongoing conversations to meet pandemic-related mental health needs of college students.
The aim of this study is to understand how the issue of sustainability is approached from the philosophical and sociological perspective of critical realism. Through a meta-synthesis, it was possible to demonstrate the main works and authors that influence the concept of sustainability from the perspective of critical realism, as well as the incidence of keywords that illustrate the discussion. The thorough analysis of 22 scientific articles found on the Web Of Science revealed important theoretical constructs for conducting empirical research in the context of critical realism and sustainability as causal powers, causal effects, reflexivity, subject and object, knowledge, practices, countermovement movements. hegemonic, agency and structure, mechanisms, social transformation (change), causality, open system, emergency and entity. It is concluded that the critical realistic conception of sustainability requires the construction of a reflective individual and collective agency, capable of influencing social changes within a conception of interdependence between human beings and nature, which requires the general questioning of practices, beliefs and values generally accepted.
Past debates surrounding wilderness have not led to constructive dialogue but instead have created a rift between dueling sides. Far from academic, this debate has important ethical, policy, and practical implications. We outline out the major fault lines of the debate between wilderness realists and constructivists and also identify common ground between them. From this starting point, we offer three potential bridges between them and conclude by proposing a preliminary vision of a 21st Century wilderness ethic focused on social-ecological connection, re-commoning, and social justice. Returning to the ‘great wilderness debate’ can lead to a synthesis of the realist and constructivist positions and a renewed wilderness ethic in an era of neoliberalism, hyper-nationalism, and intensified environmental crises.
We start out with an observation that TCE conflates opportunism, bounded rationality, and uncertainty. We then propose ways to increase their definitional precision. Particularly, we highlight the need to categorize uncertainties according to their perceived controllability, which not only better fits a behavioral approach but also broadens the scope of uncertainties for TCE research. Next, we discuss whether opportunism is a necessary assumption in TCE and whether TCE is suited to the study of uncontrollable uncertainties. We conclude that, instead of opportunism, uncertainty controllability is what TCE tacitly assumes. Considering that the conflation originates from TCE’s lack of a clear philosophical foundation, we proceed to call for critical realism (CR). The link between CR and effectuation and that between uncertainty controllability and effectuation are articulated.
Environmental awareness has undoubtedly grown over the last two decades (prior to 1995), but the actual achievements of ecological movements have been paltry. In order to explain, and to overcome, this paradoxical situation, Postmodernism and the Environmental Crisis examines the philosophical traditions underlying the current approaches to the ecological crisis. It is the first book to combine advanced cultural theory and environmental philosophy; the result is a radically new vision—a postmodern ‘grand narrative’.
At the heart of the problem is the failure of mainstream, orthodox Marxist and postmodern approaches alike to theorize the links between the ecological crisis, the globalization of capitalism and the fragmentation and disintegration of modernist culture. A successful ecological politics needs to forge a new world-view out of the postmodernist critique of Western civilization and a global ecological perspective. Postmodernism and the environmental Crisis shows that this can be done and, in doing so, lays the foundations for an effective environmental movement.
What is science? How is scientific knowledge affected by the society that produces it? Does scientific knowledge directly correspond to reality? Can we draw a line between science and pseudo-science? Will it ever be possible for computers to undertake scientific investigation independently? Is there such a thing as feminist science? In this book the author addresses questions such as these using a technique of 'cognitive play', which creates and explores new links between the ideas and results of contemporary history, philosophy, and sociology of science. New ideas and approaches are applied to a wide range of case studies, many of them from controversial and contested science. This book will be of interest to historians and sociologists of science, to anyone interested in science studies, and to educated general readers with an interest in the history, philosophy, and social context of science.
L'A. presente la theorie de Peirce sur la recherche de la verite en science et les criteres de validite des raisonnements. Puis il mene une partie critique ou il s'interroge, a la lumiere des theories de Putnam et Jardine, sur l'existence d'une limite ideale de la theorie de la verite qui empecherait un hiatus entre theorie et reel
Drawing on studies in sociology and law, as well as anthropology, the contributors challenge the view that environmental issues are the province of natural science alone. The text explores the interdisciplinary nature of the environmental debate and brings together a wide range of studies, from environmental ideology and imagery, and environmental law and policy, through local environmental activism, to ethnographic analyses of human/environment relations in indigenous societies. Key issues include the effects of state interests and bureaucracies on environmental acitivism, the cultural construction of "hard' principles of law and policy, and the responses of indigenous peoples to industrial exploitation of their environments. Also explored are important theoretical issues in anthropology. -from Publisher
Part one Conceptions of science 1. Positivist philosophy of science 2. Realist philosophy of science 3. Forms of conventionalism Part two Conceptions of science as social theory 4. Sociology and positivism 5. Marx and realism 6. Structure and structuralism Part 3 Meaning and ideology 7. The explantion and understanding of social action 8. Reification and realism 9. Values theory and reality
In presenting human geography as a social science, the main concern is with the philosophy of the social sciences and its interpretation for and by human geographers. Having suggested that the three philosophies of positivism, humanism, and structuralism dominate contemporary human geography, subsequent chapters of the book look in turn at the approaches that individually embrace a variety of related viewpoints. They outline the basic characteristics and contributions made to human geography.-J.Sheail
Wilderness is defined as undeveloped land still primarily shaped by the forces of nature. Only large blocks of wilderness >400 000 ha were identified. One-third of the global land surface still is wilderness, with 48 069 951 km2 identified in 1039 tracts. However, 41% of the amount is in the Arctic or Antarctic and 20% in temperate regions. Most of the settled continents are between 1/4 and 1/3 wilderness, Europe being the exception. Only a small share of this wilderness has been given protected status. -from Authors
How much of science is culturally constructed? How much depends on language and metaphor? How do our ideas about nature connect with reality? Can nature be "reinvented" through theme parks and malls, or through restoration? Reinventing Nature? is an interdisciplinary investigation of how perceptions and conceptions of nature affect both the individual experience and society's management of nature. Leading thinkers from a variety of fields - philosophy sociology, zoology, history, ethnobiology and others - address the conflict between the perception and reality of nature, each from a different perspective. The editors of the volume provide an insightful introductory chapter that places the book in the context of contemporary debates and a concluding chapter that brings together themes and draws conclusions from the dialogue.
1. Preface 2. Acknowledgements 3. Geography: The Social Construction of a Discipline 4. The Place of Theory 5. Geography and Society: Classical Context and a World of Discovery 6. The Appearance of Geography as a Formal Academic Discipline 7. From Region to Process: The Emergence of Geography as an Empirical-Analytical Science 8. Geography and Historical-Hermeneutic Science: The Quest for Understanding 9. Critical Science and Society: The Geographer's Interest 10. The Place of Geography 11. Glossary 12. Bibliography 13. Index
In this challenging book, Ted Benton takes recent debates about the moral status of animals as a basis for reviewing the discourse of 'human rights'. Liberal-individualist views of human rights and the advocates of animal rights tend to think of individuals, whether humans or animals, in isolation from their social position. This makes them vulnerable to criticisms from the left which emphasise the importance of social relationships to individual well-being. Benton's argument supports the important assumption, underpinning the cause for animal rights, that humans and other species of animal have much in common, both in the conditions for their well-being and their vulnerability and harm. Both liberal rights theory and it socialist critique fail adequately to theorize these aspects of human vulnerability. Nevertheless, it is argued that, enriched by feminist and ecological insights, a socialist view of rights has much to offer. Lucid and wide-ranging in its argument, Natural Relations enables the outline of an ecological socialist view of rights and justice to begin to take their shape.
In this paper, the case is made for an agenda of geographical research based on the mass media of communications. The argument is advanced that the media are an integral part of a complex cultural process through which environmental meanings are produced and consumed. Applying theoretical perspectives developed in cultural studies, evidence from a range of case studies is presented to demonstrate the ways in which environmental meanings are encoded in different forms of media texts and decoded by the different groups who comprise the audiences. It is argued that physical and human geographers could usefully collaborate in research with both producers and consumers of media texts, so as to better understand contemporary discourses about human-environment relations.
The author explores the ways that human beings have turned to natural science, theology, and myth to form visions of the earth as a human habitat. She also reaches beyond the Western tradition to examine how other cultures have conceptualized the nature and meaning of their environments. She begins by placing her study in the context of Western intellectual and cultural history. Focusing on the "emancipatory cry' of humanism, she identifies and interprets cyclical patterns of Western thought using the three mythopoetical characters of Phoenix, Faust, and Narcissus. The author uses symbols to reflect on four ways in which the world has been perceived both in the Western cultural tradition and in other traditions throughout history: the world as a mosaic of forms, as a mechanical system, as an organic whole, and as an arena of spontaneous events. Although postmodern thinkers have seen the struggle between Faust the builder and Narcissus the evaluator as insoluble, she argues that the impulse of the Phoenix can bridge the gaps between disciplines, cultures, and world-views. -Publisher