Ecological Disaster as Contextual Transformation
- 1 September 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Environment and Behavior
- Vol. 37 (5), 706-728
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916505275310
Abstract
The biophysical context and contextual change have significant economic, cultural, social, and psychological consequences for individuals and communities. Although acknowledging the importance of the biophysical context for theoretical and conceptual issues, social science research typically is conducted as if context does not matter. The authors discuss the relevance of context and outline research that examines the effects of context through assumed contextual variation, subjective contextual variables, objective contextual variables, and temporal contextual variation. The authors hypothesize that an ecological disaster occurring in a community where people are connected to the biophysical environment and ecological processes will result in the adoption of a more ecological worldview. This hypothesis is tested by analyzing data collected in the renewable resource communities of Cordova and Petersburg, Alaska, in the aftermath of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The authors find support for this hypothesis and provide suggestions for future research.Keywords
This publication has 36 references indexed in Scilit:
- Is It Really Just a Social Construction?: The Contribution of the Physical Environment to Sense of PlaceSociety & Natural Resources, 2003
- Using GIS and historical records to reconstruct residential exposure to large-scale pesticide applicationJournal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, 2002
- Coping with technological disaster: An application of the conservation of resources model to the Exxon Valdez oil spillJournal of Traumatic Stress, 2000
- A Value-Attitude-Behavior Model Predicting Wildland Preservation Voting IntentionsSociety & Natural Resources, 1999
- Globalisation, Environmental Degradation and Ulrich Beck's Risk SocietyEnvironmental Values, 1999
- Social Structural and Social Psychological Bases of Environmental ConcernEnvironment and Behavior, 1998
- CONCEPTUALIZING THE CONTEXT OF ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIORJournal of Environmental Psychology, 1998
- Disruption and stress in an Alaskan fishing community: initial and continuing impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spillIndustrial Crisis Quarterly, 1992
- The Social Bases of Environmental Concern: Have They Changed Over Time?1Rural Sociology, 1992
- Methodology of Studying DisastersAmerican Behavioral Scientist, 1970