The Individual and Values in Human Ecology: An Examination of the Adaptive Processes*

Human ecology has been criticized for its neglect of values and the individual. Ecologists have defended themselves by arguing that the process of adaptation is such that values and the individual can be ignored. Hawley (1950:66), for example, contends that adaptation is a communal phenomena and can be analyzed without reference to individual-level variables. Gibbs and Martin (1959) contend that the individual and values are insignificant in human ecology because of the mechanism of “selective survival,” which refers to the fact that only those societies with the proper combination of POET variables are able to survive in a given environment. This paper evaluates some of the models of adaptation used by human ecologists, and contends that the ecological models are rather elementary, and that they ignore some of the differences between biological and social adaptation. For these reasons the models minimize the role of values and the individual. In evaluating the ecological models, I present a model of adaptation to criticize the ecological models and to specify what I believe is the proper role of values and the individual in human ecology. The model describes three stages in the adaptive process (variation, transmission, and selection), and attempts to specify the role of values and the individual at each stage.     

Habitat structure: A fundamental concept and framework for urban soil ecology

Habitat structure is defined as the composition and arrangement of physical matter at a location. Although habitat structure is the physical template underlying ecological patterns and processes, the concept is relatively unappreciated and underdeveloped in ecology. However, it provides a fundamental concept for urban ecology because human activities in urban ecosystems are often targeted toward management of habitat structure. In addition, the concept emphasizes the fine-scale, on-the-ground perspective needed in the study of urban soil ecology. To illustrate this, urban soil ecology research is summarized from the perspective of habitat structure effects. Among the key conclusions emerging from the literature review are: (1) habitat structure provides a unifying theme for multivariate research about urban soil ecology; (2) heterogeneous urban habitat structures influence soil ecological variables in different ways; (3) more research is needed to understand relationships among sociological variables, habitat structure patterns and urban soil ecology. To stimulate urban soil ecology research, a conceptual framework is presented to show the direct and indirect relationships among habitat structure and ecological variables. Because habitat structure serves as a physical link between sociocultural and ecological systems, it can be used as a focus for interdisciplinary and applied research (e.g., pest management) about the multiple, interactive effects of urbanization on the ecology of soils.     

Adoption of economic development strategies in small towns and rural areas: Effects of past community action

Incorporating elements from both human ecology and the theories of local social interaction, the purpose of this study is to ascertain empirically the independent, additive effect of past community action in explaining variations in recent adoption of economic development strategies. I consider and control the effects of other structural and ecological characteristics of small towns and rural areas that have been shown to be important sources of variation in economic development strategies. Results of the hierarchical regression analyses indicate that past community action variables make substantial independent contributions to explaining variations in financial assistance to firms, creation or expansion of recreation-related activities, and creation or expansion of human services after considering and controlling for the effects of community need, socioeconomic status and ecological characteristics. Contrary to expectations, past community action variables do not make a significant contribution to variance explanation in promotion to recruit business and industry and the use of government programs to encourage economic growth, an action arena many discussions of rural development portray as necessary foundations for community development. From a practical standpoint, the findings of this study encourage efforts to initiate local actions and develop or maintain symbols of local identity. These can play paramount roles in the future, if not immediately, as residents of rural communities seek to attain shared goals.     

以生态理论为基础建设职业高校生态图书馆

随着社会的不断发展,生态概念已经从生物学发展到整个人类社会科学,近10年,图书馆也开始研究如何建筑生态图书馆的问题。图书馆人也应该立足于人类的长远和可持续发展,注重生态保持,建设"绿色"、"低碳"、"环保"、"节能"的生态图书馆。文章从图书馆的建筑生态、环境生态、资源生态、人文生态等诸多方面分析了如何建设生态图书馆的问题。     

Urbanization and Land‐Use Change: A Human Ecology of Deforestation Across the United States, 2001–2006

Drawing from human ecology, the present study sheds light on the ways in which urbanization drives changes in forest cover at the local level across the continental United States. Using county‐level data from the National Land Cover Database and other US governmental sources, the area of forest cover lost in the construction of the built environment between 2001 and 2006 is regressed on the size, density, and social organization of a locality. Controlling for several other factors, estimates from spatial regression models with two‐way fixed effects show that increasing density slowed down deforestation, while variables representing size and social organization had the opposite effect. Based on these results, urbanization is framed as a multidimensional human ecological process with countervailing impacts on the natural environment.     

An exploratory factor model of social area analysis

Social ecology theory promotes the idea that the social structure of any given area influences the behavior of the social group in that area. One model of ecological theory is Shevky and Bell's social area analysis, which presents three constructs to describe and measure urban differences. Shevky and Bell label these constructs social rank, urbanization, and segregation. However, the measures (and labels) originally proposed by Shevky and Bell have been altered across repeated applications. This study is a test of the validity of the three‐construct model using variables popular in current research. The results of this study reveal that a four‐factor model provides a better fit, suggesting that a revision of social area analysis theory is in order.     

愤怒的葡萄——绿色生态主义作家约翰·斯坦贝克研究

约翰·斯坦贝克（John Steinbeck,1902—1968）的普利策得奖作品《愤怒的葡萄》几十年来都深深吸引着文学评论家和普通百姓。《愤怒的葡萄》一书的主题常常是贪婪商人的恶劣行径和现代工业给人和环境带来的损害。文中从新型社会生态学理论的角度,深层剖析小说,从社会、经济和政治因素理解逼迫农民迁移的生态危机,认为约翰·斯坦贝克是前卫的绿色生态主义作家。     

Interdisciplinary research at the Urban–Rural interface: The West ga project

As human populations increase, ecological and social issues become inextricably linked to a greater degree. Solutions to complex social–ecological problems can only be derived through the use of integrated research that can account for the interplay of many factors across traditional discipline lines. We are using such an integrated research to clarify relationships among socioeconomic drivers, ecological effects, and social and policy feedbacks associated with urban development of forested landscapes. Our approach is goal oriented and interdisciplinary in nature and involves a team composed of ecologists, anthropologists, and economists who exchange ideas and information across disciplinary lines. The team and approach has evolved through many of the barriers to interdisciplinary research that have been identified by other authors. Our goal is to develop a predictive capability in order to anticipate ecological and social implications of urban development on natural resources in the southeastern United States. Our integrated model and subsequent papers in this special issue are presented.     

Farmers' Contribution to Agricultural Social Capital: Evidence from Southern Spain

Social capital is the whole set of shared norms, values, attitudes, and beliefs that promote cooperation among individuals within the community and that has proved to be a key factor in explaining development processes. This article aims to provide an analytically reliable notion of social capital within the farming sector and a methodological tool for empirically measuring how social capital is accumulated at the farmer level. The theoretical framework proposed is based on the multidimensionality of the complex concept of social capital. Thus, to develop a comprehensive index for social capital, we identify three dimensions of the concept, structural, relational, and cognitive social capital, each one also comprising several subdimensions. This integrative approach permits creation of a composite indicator of the agricultural social capital accumulated at the farmer level, further identifying socioeconomic factors that influence its accumulation at that level. We empirically apply this methodological approach to farmers in Andalusia in southern Spain as a case study. This research provides an interesting starting point for informing policymakers about social capital and helping them implement the necessary programs to facilitate sustainable development in the agricultural sector.     

Working with Immigrant Children and Their Families: An Application of Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory

The influx of multicultural and multiethnic immigrants to the United States following the liberalization of immigration law in 1965 has resulted in a high representation of children who reside with immigrant families. As these children are approaching early adulthood, their encounter with various ecological systems is likely to be shaped by their cultural differences and the diversity of family settings. Drawing on the insights of Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, this article highlights the critical function that family social ecology plays in how children of immigrants will fare over their adolescent life course. By providing a comprehensive picture of how immigrant family process takes place, this article suggests how understanding the ecology of immigrant families can help strengthen social work service delivery.     

Mental health social work in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland: challenges and opportunities for developing practice

Drawing on their experience of mental health social work in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the authors examine the impact of current legislative and policy change in both jurisdictions. The paper applies Lorenz's theoretical framework to develop a comparative analysis of how global and country specific variables have interacted in shaping mental health social work. The analysis identifies linkages between factors and indicates similarities and differences in mental health social work practice. The paper highlights emerging discourses in this field and explores the impact on practice of developments such as de-institutionalisation, community care, and ‘user rights’ versus ‘public protection’. The article concludes with a review of key challenges facing social workers in both jurisdictions and identifies opportunities for developing mental health social work in ways that can positively respond to change and effectively address the needs of mental health service users and their carers. The analysis provides an opportunity to evaluate Lorenz's theoretical framework and the paper includes a brief critical commentary on its utility as a conceptual tool in comparative social work.     

The true citizens of the city of God: the cult of saints, the Catholic social order, and the urban Reformation in Germany

Historical scholarship suggests that a robust cult of the saints may have helped some European regions to resist inroads by Protestantism. Based on a neo-Durkheimian theory of rituals and social order, I propose that locally based cults of the saints that included public veneration lowered the odds that Protestantism would displace Catholicism in sixteenth-century German cities. To evaluate this proposition, I first turn to historical and theoretical reflection on the role of the cult of the saints in late medieval history. I then test the hypothesis with a data set of sixteenth-century German cities. Statistical analysis provides additional support for the ritual and social order thesis because even when several important variables identified by materialist accounts of the Reformation in the social scientific literature the presence of shrines as an indicator for the cult of the saints remains large and significant. Although large-scale social change is usually assumed to have politico-economic sources, this analysis suggests that cultural factors may be of equal or greater importance.     

Interdisciplinary foundations of urban ecology

Researchers have identified urban ecology as a new field integrating social and ecological science. Critics have portrayed the field as under-theorized with negative implications for research and urban environmental planning. Unprecedented urbanization and historical bias against research integrating social and ecological systems are identified as driving this deficit. Researchers have called for new integrative approaches to address this issue. In response, this paper applies ecology’s analytic framework of “patch dynamics”, Kuhn’s concept of “normal science” and Mazoyer and Roudart’s “evolutionary series” to demographic data and historical texts to perform an analysis of interdisciplinary contributions to theory applicable in the field of urban ecology. The subsequent exploration reveals a rich history of interdisciplinary inquiry along the nature/society divide. The paper concludes that these “largely ignored” contributions offer urban ecology the opportunity to claim much broader depth as a field gaining access to precedents and innovations accomplished during the field’s early theoretical development. Drawing upon this history, a framework for ecological urban development is suggested to inform and assist contemporary research in urban ecology and planning.

A Social Ecology of Bias-Based Bullying of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth: Toward a Conceptualization of Conversion Bullying

Homophobic bullying is pervasive and deleterious, and a source of extensive health and mental health disparities affecting sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY). Investigations conducted over the past two decades across the social ecology of SGMY indicate individual (e.g., gender), microsystem (e.g., schools), and exosystem level (e.g., community norms) factors associated with homophobic bullying. Emerging evidence at the macrosystem level demonstrates the powerful influence of laws, policies, and ideologies on the population health of sexual minority adults. Based on social ecological theory and emerging evidence at the macrosystem level, we advance a conceptualization of the religious social ecology of homophobic bullying and articulate the construct of conversion bullying, a form of bias-based bullying that may be unique to SGMY. Conversion bullying is manifested in the invocation of religious rhetoric and rationalizations in repeated acts of peer aggression against SGMY that cause harm, based on the premise that same-sex attractions and behaviors are immoral or unnatural and with implicit or explicit communication that one should change one's sexuality to conform to heteronormative ideals. We describe implications of conversion bullying for social work practice, education, social policy, and research.     

Social ecological complex adaptive systems: a framework for research on payments for ecosystem services

The environment is both a setting for and a product of human interactions. Understanding the dynamic nature of human-environment interactions is critical for mitigating the impacts of human induced environmental change and understanding how the environment shapes social systems. Current research has focused on the reduced ability of many natural systems to provide ecosystem services and the subsequent impact on human well-being. Furthermore, there has been a proliferation of cases analyzing the impacts of payment programs designed to enhance ecosystem services. However, analyses that link environmental policies through to their ecological results are not common and methods to do so are not thoroughly developed. To better analyze these interactions, a theory or framework is necessary. This article presents a framework of social ecological complex adaptive systems (SECAS). The framework links structuration theory from social science with the theories of complex adaptive systems from ecology to provide an enhanced understanding of the human drivers and responses to environmental change. The framework is presented as a recursive process where social and ecological systems are both the medium for and product of social action and ecological disturbance. A case study of Costa Rica’s ecosystem service payment program is presented as a demonstration of empirical applicability. This framework is proposed as a method to evaluate payments for ecosystem services, conservation policies, urban ecosystems, and for land use change in general.     

Linked Ecologies:States and Universities as Environments for Professions*

In this article I generalize ecological theory by developing the notion of separate but linked ecologies. I characterize an ecology by its set of actors, its set of locations, and the relation it involves between these. I then develop two central concepts for the linkage of ecologies: hinges and avatars. The first are issues or strategies that "work" in both ecologies at once. The second are attempts to institutionalize in one ecology a copy or colony of an actor in another. The article investigates the first of these concepts using two detailed examples of hinge analysis between the professional and political ecologies. Both concern medical licensing, the first in 19th‐century New York and the second in 19th‐century England. For the avatar concept, the article analyzes four less detailed cases linking the professional and university ecologies: computer science, criminal justice, clinical psychology, and applied economics.     

Effects of School-Based Risk and Protective Factors on Treatment Success Among Youth Adjudicated of a Sexual Crime

Youth with sexually problematic behaviors are impacted by the reciprocal interplay between individual characteristics and the key social and ecological systems in which they are embedded. The paucity of research on protective factors mitigating risks within various socioecological systems is of concern, as the school is one such system that has been overlooked. This study retroactively investigated probation files among youth who were adjudicated of a sexual crime (N = 85) to determine how school-level variables are associated with treatment completion. A sequential logistical regression model revealed reduced odds for school-based risk factors and a greater proportion of variance explained when school-based protective factors were included. Implications and research considerations are discussed.     

Factors affecting post-permanency adjustment for children in adoption or guardianship placements: An ecological systems analysis

Despite a growing body of research on post-permanency adjustment for children adopted from public child welfare agencies, many studies lack a systematic review using a theoretical framework. To develop promising post-permanency services for adopted children with special needs and their families, the first step is to examine risk and protective factors affecting adoption or guardianship adjustment. This study systematically reviews and synthesizes current empirical studies investigating post-permanency outcomes using an ecological systems analysis, with an integration of family theories. A search of five electronic databases and relevant child welfare books identified 36 empirical studies on post-permanency adjustment. Risk factors include some individual factors such as caring for a child with special needs, raising children with a multiple placement or maltreatment history and involving parents with no parenting experience. Living in a family experiencing boundary ambiguity and lacking social support are also risk factors. Protective factors include having adoption preparation and having a child living with married parents, as well as a high level of adoption openness and the availability of formal and informal social support. Implications for child welfare practice and policy also are discussed.     

Social Entrepreneurship Through an Organizational Ecology Lens: Examining the Emergence and Evolution of the Voucher School Population in Milwaukee

The creation and introduction of new ideas and new organizations to address social challenges are central features in current social entrepreneurship research, and over the past two decades scholars have proposed a variety of approaches to understand and analyze these and other dimensions of social entrepreneurship. This article looks at social entrepreneurship from an ecological perspective and proposes that organizational ecology has much to offer this emerging filed. Specifically, the article draws from a unique dataset on voucher schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to analyze the emergence as well as dynamics of this nonprofit population.