Environmental Orientations: A Multidimensional Approach to Social Ecology [and Comments and Reply]

A new approach to social ecology is offered which attempts to integrate a variety of theories, each of which approaches the problem of man's relationship to his environment from a different perspective. It is postulated that man refers to the environment to achieve not one, but a multiplicity o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current anthropology 1976-03, Vol.17 (1), p.49-70
Main Authors: Cohen, Erik, Aberle, David F., Bartolomé, Leopoldo J., Caldwell, Lynton K., Esser, Aristide H., Hardesty, Donald L., Hassan, Riaz, Heinen, H. Dieter, Kawakita, Jiro, Linares, Olga F., Majumder, Partha Pratim, Mark, Albyn Knight, Tambs-Lyche, Harald
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ecological processes
Ecology
Ecology/Ecological/Ecologically/ Ecologist/ Ecologists
Economic value
Ecosystems
Environment/Environments/ Environmental/ Environmentally
Environmental social sciences
Environmental technology
Human ecology
Natural resources
Orientation/Orientations
Prestige
Social class/Social classes
Urban ecology
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Summary:A new approach to social ecology is offered which attempts to integrate a variety of theories, each of which approaches the problem of man's relationship to his environment from a different perspective. It is postulated that man refers to the environment to achieve not one, but a multiplicity of purposes. To each purpose corresponds a type of environmental orientation. Four such orientations are distinguished: the instrumental, the territorial, the sentimental, and the symbolic. Each orientation is manifested in two modes, one more and one less institutionalized. To each mode corresponds a regulative mechanism or process which leads to a characteristic type of environmental organization. The types of environmental organization represent the spatial correlates of the main institutional spheres of society. Three theoretical problems are high-lighted by the paradigm: the problem of ecological institutionalization, the problem of the ecological consequences of the different orientations, and the problem of ecological transformation. The approach is intended to create the basis for a systematic comparative theory in social ecology and for a theory of ecological evolution.
ISSN:0011-3204
1537-5382
DOI:10.1086/201669