Abstract

PUIG, Ana Pilar Pi. Approaches to the environment in sociological theory: dialogue between formulations from the North and questioning development from the South. Rev. colomb. soc. [online]. 2019, vol.42, n.1, pp.73-95. ISSN 0120-159X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rcs.v42n1.73220.

The article provides some reflections on the approaches to the environment in the social sciences, an issue that acquired relevance in the 1960s, when the negative consequences of human activity started to become evident. The objective of the study is to examine some of the discussions carried out from a sociological perspective, which reflect on the interrelations between society and environment and establish a dialogue among the different approaches. We argue that it is necessary to address the issue of the environment in -and from- Latin America, while, at the same time, appealing to theoretical proposals developed elsewhere, in order to contrast different interpretations of the environmental issue and gain insights on the stances regarding the prevailing economic order.

On the one hand, the article discusses the debates held since the end of the 1970s among authors from developed countries, which gave rise to theoretical proposals, such as the new environmental paradigm and the functions of the environment, considered to be one of the first proposals from the North; ecological modernization, whose success is reflected in the way environmental issues are handled today; and the spiral of production, a more radical view of the causes and consequences of environmental degradation. On the other hand, the paper presents some more recent proposals set forth by authors with a Latin American perspective regarding development, its alternatives, and the place of the environment in those discussions. These authors share their critical analysis of Latin America's position as supplier of natural resources and their appeal to autochthonous Latin American experiences as an alternative to the prevailing development model. Finally, on the basis of convergences and divergences among the approaches, the article concludes that their object of study is basically the same but that there are differences deriving from their loci of enunciation, which lead to diverse diagnostics and possible solutions to environmental issues.

Keywords : development; environment; environmental sociology; Latin America; sustainability; theory.

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