Limits of sociology in understanding landscape Basic illustration

Landscape in humanities and social sciences l l l l Cultural ecology Social ecology Cultural landscapes (UNESCO CL heritage) Symbols Landscape as cultural construction in social sciences Landscape as object of (interaction and dynamic) art Other…. .

Methodological problem - Terms: Pre- scientific l no logical relationships between each other, but contain experiences, people can understand imagine what is behind the term – sharing experiences. l Empirical, based on sharing experiences expression of the world.

Terms. . Scientific l no sharing experiences, but logical analytical relationships to each other. Analytical, formalized description of the world.

Landscape as… Sociology …. interpretation… between literature and science Third culture…third science? (Wolf Lepenies, 1985) l Landscape ► Inscape l Lifescape ► Lifescape l Inscape ► Landscape

Related to…

and to….

Place…landscape

Out of human exemptionalism to… l Human exemptionalism Paradigm - HEP Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP) l l l belief in abundance and progress, our devotion to growth and prosperity, our faith in science and technology, our commitment to a laissez-faire economy, no-limited governmental planning and private property rights. The HEP is "anti-ecological" and therefore damaging to the environment. In the 1978 William R. Catton and Riley E. Dunlap

…to ecology New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) l the inevitability of "limits to growth" l the necessity of achieving a "steady-state" economy l the importance of preserving the "balance of nature" l the need to reject the anthropocentric notion that nature exists solely for human use. . . a world view perhaps best captured by the "spaceship earth" metaphor In the 1978 William R. Catton and Riley E. Dunlap

12 - 15 items were designed to measure the NEP l Subjects were asked to rate each item (from Strongly Disagree, Mildly Agree, Agree and Strongly Agree) / 5 items scale

15 items of NEP by Riley E. Dunlap l l l l (1) We are approaching the limit of the number of people the earth can support. (2) Humans have the right to modify the natural environment to suit their needs. (3) Humans are severely abusing the environment. (4) Human ingenuity will insure that we do NOT make the earth unlivable. (5) When humans interfere with nature it often produces disastrous consequences. (6) The earth has plenty of natural resources if we just learn how to develop them. (7) Plants and animals have as much right as humans to exist. (8) The balance of nature is strong enough to cope with the impacts of modern industrial nations. (9) Despite our special abilities, humans are still subject to the laws of nature. (10) The so-called “ecological crisis” facing humankind has been greatly exaggerated. (11) The earth is like a spaceship with limited room and resources. (12) Humans were meant to rule over the rest of nature. (13) The balance of nature is very delicate and easily upset. (14) Humans will eventually learn enough about how nature works to control it. (15) If things continue on their present course, we will soon experience a major ecological catastrophe. Mixture of HEP and NEP

Limits of sociology in understanding landscape n n Natural science tend to exclude human behavior Sociological perspectives tend to exclude the physical environment from their account of social science

Limits… The environment is not merely, exclusively represented through social construction, in language or symbolically It is also the product of human activity

Limits… n n n Beyond the position where nature is viewed as either the material conditions of our existence Or as no more than a set of culturally generated symbols Accept nature as both