Opinion: Endogenizing culture in sustainability science research and policy
Links
- More information: Publisher Index Page (via DOI)
- Open Access Version: Publisher Index Page
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Abstract
Integrating the analysis of natural and social systems to achieve sustainability has been an international scientific goal for years (1, 2). However, full integration has proven challenging, especially in regard to the role of culture (3), which is often missing from the complex sustainability equation. To enact policies and practices that can achieve sustainability, researchers and policymakers must do a better job of accounting for culture, difficult though this task may be.
The concept of culture is complex, with hundreds of definitions that for years have generated disagreement among social scientists (4). Understood at the most basic level, culture constitutes shared values, beliefs, and norms through which people “see,” interpret, or give meaning to ideas, actions, and environments. Culture is often used synonymously with “worldviews” or “cosmologies” (5, 6) to explain the patterned ways of assigning meanings and interpretations among individuals within groups. Used in this way, culture has been found to have only limited empirical support as an explanation of human risk perception (7, 8) and environmentalism (9).
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Opinion: Endogenizing culture in sustainability science research and policy |
| Series title | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
| DOI | 10.1073/pnas.1510010112 |
| Volume | 112 |
| Issue | 27 |
| Year Published | 2015 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
| Contributing office(s) | Coop Res Unit Atlanta |
| Description | 3 p. |
| First page | 8157 |
| Last page | 8159 |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |