Ch. 15 Social Factors

Values Differ What is and is not food Whether or not people are a part of nature, or have dominion over it Attitudes in urban and rural areas may differ People in rural areas generally have more traditional ecological knowledge, but also more conflicts, attitudes generally based on experience Biodiversity conservation costs urbanites less, attitudes generally more conceptual

Values Differ Attitudes of women and men may differ Women may be more sympathetic to nature, more nurturing, nature associated with female dieties, etc. Or, that may be a bunch of sexist BS and a way of lumping women with nature so men can dominate both ecofeminism, women especially involved in grassroots movements Either way, it can affect attitudes

Gender roles may dictate which suites of species men and women interact with

But not always

Values Differ There are lots of demographics that view nature differently religion and culture geography wealth and education

Kellert Scale for Human Values

Value Generalizations Women prioritize conservation over property rights more so than men. People in rural area tend to have utilitarian and naturalistic attitudes, and urban people tend to have moralistic and humanistic attitudes. People care more about individual species than ecosystems or biodiversity. Plants, birds and mammals are most favored, then fish, then reptiles, amphibians, and inverts, with microbes being the least favored. influences funding for conservation

Values Change With and within generations “We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and I have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes – something known only to her and the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer that no wolves would be a hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.”

Changing People’s Values To preserve biodiversity, we need to see an increase in naturalistic, ecologistic, aesthetic, and moralistic attitudes and a decrease in negativistic, neutralistic, dominionistic, and utilitarian values. “For in the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.” ~ Baba Dioum but often, people with the most factual knowledge have the most negative attitudes

Changing People’s Values Which shapes values more: experience or education? maybe it depends on the person studying natural history particularly effective at increasing concern for biodiversity. decreasing coverage in curriculum Should we change people’s values? Often use the word clarifying as a euphemism Particularly a concern in cross-cultural exchanges Providing information is innocuous, right? difficult to recognize global importance of local species Biodiversity is part of our global heritage, doesn’t belong to locals makes it easy, but over simplifies

Anthropocentrism vs. Biocentrism Biocentrism recognizes that all species have intrinsic value and rejects that humans are more important than others philosophical foundation of the deep ecology movement Biophilia: the innate emotional affinity of humans to other living things implies that human physical and emotional health tied to biodiversity

An Ethical Sequence

Discussion Qs What factors do you think have the most profound influence on people’s attitudes about nature? How do you think this is changing over time, with technology and increasing globalization? Do you think it is acceptable to try and change someone else’s values? Instances where it is and is not acceptable? What if they are wrong and you are right?!?! Where do you fall on the scale?