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Identity and the Natural Environment: The Psychological Significance of Nature

Posted on: Sunday, 18 December 2005, 03:02 CST

By Konefal, Jason

Identity and the Natural Environment: The Psychological Significance of Nature, edited by Susan clayton and Susan Opotow, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003. 353 pp. $32.00 (Paper). ISBN: 0-262- 53206-9.

Identity and the Natural Environment is an attempt to expand psychological research on identity to include the natural environment, and bring insights from psychology into research on the natural environment. Editors clayton and Opotow argue that "if we better understand what makes people passionate about the environment, we can understand the psychological mechanisms capable of fostering protective environmental policies and behavior" (2). They propose that psychology can offer useful insights into what they call environmental identity-how people orient themselves to nature.

Importing psychology into the study of the environment, Identity and the Natural Environment seeks to tackle two questions. First, to what degree and under what conditions is the environment an important component of a person's identity? second, under what conditions does concern for the environment translate into behavior and action? The book answers these questions through a variety of empirical examples. Collectively, they demonstrate that the natural environment often does affect identity, as well as offer insights into the complex relationship between attitudes, behavior, and action regarding the environment.

The first two chapters provide a conceptual basis for applying psychological theories of identity to environmental issues. The rest of the book consists of both qualitative and quantitative empirical case studies. The empirical cases are organized into three sections, based on a conceptual model of environmental identity developed by clayton and Opotow in the introduction. Observing that environmental identity is the outcome of social conditions and forces, in addition to experiences with nature, they argue that environmental identity can be arranged along a continuum. On one end are the "pure" environmental identities; in the middle environmental identities are equally social and natural, and at the other end they are heavily influenced by social factors. Part I examines pure environmental identities, Part II ones in the middle, and Part III those that are very socially mediated.

Part I, "Experiencing Nature as Individuals," examines how direct experiences with nature often strongly influence a person's environmental identity. Though informative, the first chapter, by clayton, is an odd fit. She argues that "environmental identity is a meaningful and measurable construct," and develops a scale by which to measure environmental identity (58). More in alignment with the section's theme, Myers and Russell argue that for people who are in daily contact with animals, their identity is influenced as much by their relationship with animals as it is by relations with other people.

The remaining chapters in Part I all focus on children. They argue that the environmental identities of children are less socially mediated than those of adults, as children are less socialized and have limited scientific knowledge. Finding that it is very common for children to anthropomorphize the natural environment, Gebhard et al. examine anthropomorphism as a basis for environmentalism. Surveying children from a variety of spatial and socio-economic locations, Kahn finds that children have similar environmental identities across geographic, class, race, ethnic, and gender differences. KaIs and Ittner examine whether specific environmental identities can be instilled in children through education, and whether moral reasoning about the environment induces pro-environmental behavior.

Part II, "Experiencing Nature in Social and Community Contexts," examines environmental identities that are equally the outcome of social factors and experiences with nature. With such environmental identities, the boundary between nature and society becomes blurred. Kalof challenges dualistic thinking about nature and society, arguing that people often see themselves and animals in similar ways. Sommer discusses how community tree planting programs often work simultaneously to improve the environment and bring communities together, while Austin and Kaplan argue that the cleaning up of vacant lots is as much about improving the natural environment as the social environment for many Detroit residents. In both cases, improvements in the natural environment lead to more positive social identities, especially in instances where people feel that they have a direct and personal connection with the natural environment (i.e., they planted the trees or cleaned up the vacant lots themselves). Lastly, Linneweber et al. show that environmental identities are often "contextualized," meaning that they are often situated within other more prominent identities.

Part III, "Experiencing Nature as Members of Social Groups," examines the way that social factors can influence, often in negative ways, people's environmental identities. Opotow and Brook and Samuelson et al., discuss environmental identities in the context of environmental conflicts. In both chapters, the authors argue that part of the reason that environmental conflicts often become so divisive is that they are often not just about the environment, but people's identities. For example, Opotow and Brook note dial while ranchers often think of themselves as good environmental stewards, they tend to be anti-environmental because they feel that environmental regulations threaten their identity as ranchers. More generally, Zavestoski and Kempton and Holland examine how social relations often prevent the formation of environmental identities, or force them into submergence. Both chapters argue that weak environmental identities are often due to a lack of recognition and affirmation by other people. A commonality among all the authors in this section is that they stress the need for social institutions that foster and support ecological identities, if environmental values are to become more widespread and prominent.

The strength of the book is its empirical content, and the diverse approaches it presents for studying the relationship between identity, action, and the environment. It fills an important research gap on the relationship between personal and social identity and the environment. From my standpoint as an environmental sociologist, the key contribution of the book is that it begins to connect research on environmental attitudes to research on behavior and action. For example, surveys have long shown that a majority of people in the U.S. identify themselves as environmentalists. Yet, it is quite clear that concern for the environment has not generated widespread environmental activism. Many of the pieces in Identity and the Natural Environment shed light on why there is often a disconnect between concern for the environment and acting on those concerns.

However, at the same time, some environmental sociologists may find the book disappointing in places. While social conditions and forces are recognized as affecting environmental identity, such forces and conditions are not always well elaborated. Better incorporation of historical, political, economic, and cultural research on the environment would have strengthened many of the pieces by adding more substance to the ways that social conditions and forces enable and constrain environmental identities.

Furthermore, I would argue that environmental identities are always hybrid combinations of social relations and experiences with nature, which are often inseparable. Thus, to me, categorizing environmental identities by the degree to which they are socially mediated did not contribute to the primary purpose of the book, namely understanding "the psychological mechanisms capable of fostering protective environmental policies and behavior" (2). Rather, I found the organization of the book to be confusing at times, as the chapters did not always form a coherent argument in each of the sections. Lastly, a conclusion chapter that tied together the book and generalized its findings would have been helpful.

Reviewed by Jason Konefal

Michigan State University

Copyright Rural Sociological Society Dec 2005

Source: Rural Sociology

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