Sociologia ambiental: um novo paradigma

Ostensibly diverse and competing theoretical perspectives in sociology are alike in their shared anthropocentrism. From any of these perspectives, therefore, much contemporary and future social experience has to seem anomalous. Environmental sociologists attempt to understand recent societal changes by means of a nonanthropocentric paradigm. Because ecosystem constraints now pose serious problems both for human societies and for sociology, three assumptions quite different from the prevalent Human Exceptionalism Paradigm (HEP) have become essential. They form a New Environmental Paradigm (NEP). Sociologists who accept this New Environmental Paradigm have no difficulty appreciating the sociological relevance of variables traditionally excluded from sociology. The core of environmental sociology is, in fact, study of interactions between environment and society, recent work by NEP-oriented sociologists on issues pertaining to social stratification exemplifies the utility of this paradigm.