The Economy of Nature: From Political Ecology to the Social Construction of Nature

2012 ◽  
pp. 216-230
Author(s):  
Bridge Gavin
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Construction Of Nature ◽  
Economy Of Nature

The Making of a National Park: Ruins of Nature and History in Northern Dobrudja

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 596-614
Author(s):  
Calin Cotoi
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Conservation Areas ◽  
Analytical Potential ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Construction Of Nature ◽  
Critical Discourses ◽  
Gain Access

After 1990, nature conservation areas multiplied all over Central and Eastern Europe. National parks came into being as part of a dramatically changing society, economy, and culture. Scholarly efforts to understand national parks rely either on arguments about the social construction of nature or on political ecology. In this article, I attempt to point to the analytical potential of the literature on ruins for expanding studies carried out in both theoretical traditions. I draw from fieldwork in nature conservation areas in southeastern Romania to explore how actors gain access to critical discourses and complex ways of narrating and enrolling the landscapes. The mechanisms that counterpoise safeguarding and development are analyzed as parts of a longue durée articulation of ruination and modernization.

Socially Constructing Pacific Salmon

1997 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rik Scarce
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Pacific Salmon ◽  
General Question ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Construction Of Nature ◽  
Historical Comparative

AbstractWhat does "nature" mean? This general question, central to the social construction of nature, is addressed here by examining one of nature's particulars, Pacific salmon, and by looking at how one group of people, salmon biologists, imbue the fish with meaning. Based upon historical, comparative, and qualitative data, it appears that nature is socially constructed through both cognitive and physical processes. "Salmon"- and indirectly nature - emerges not as a monolithic, timeless, certain entity, but rather as one that is manipulable, fleeting, and the product of a variety of social relations. In particular, public policy and economics appear to have profoundly influenced salmon biologists' cognitive and physical constructions of salmon.

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