Journal
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
Volume 31, Issue 4, Pages 772-780Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12855
Keywords
cultural adaptation; multilevel analysis; social-ecological systems; social stability; value shift
Funding
- Department of Psychology at Colorado State University
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources at Colorado State University
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The hope for creating widespread change in social values has endured among conservation professionals since early calls by Aldo Leopold for a land ethic. However, there has been little serious attention in conservation to the fields of investigation that address values, how they are formed, and how they change. We introduce a social-ecological systems conceptual approach in which values are seen not only as motivational goals people hold but also as ideas that are deeply embedded in society's material culture, collective behaviors, traditions, and institutions. Values define and bind groups, organizations, and societies; serve an adaptive role; and are typically stable across generations. When abrupt value changes occur, they are in response to substantial alterations in the social-ecological context. Such changes build on prior value structures and do not result in complete replacement. Given this understanding of values, we conclude that deliberate efforts to orchestrate value shifts for conservation are unlikely to be effective. Instead, there is an urgent need for research on values with a multilevel and dynamic view that can inform innovative conservation strategies for working within existing value structures. New directions facilitated by a systems approach will enhance understanding of the role values play in shaping conservation challenges and improve management of the human component of conservation.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available