Exploring Cultural Determinants of Species Extinction: Relating Ecological Alienation and Biodiversity Loss

• In Event: 1483 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 11. Ecological Crisis and Environmental Justice

Abstract

This project uses ordinary least squares regression to empirically test the relationship between measures social-ecological alienation and biodiversity loss cross-nationally. Furthermore, it provides an overview of environmental sociology’s theoretical contribution to biodiversity loss research, arguing therein that the explanatory relevance of cultural components of Metabolic Rift Theory (MRT), such as ecological alienation, are insufficiently recognized in relevant disciplinary discourse as of yet. Existing research has identified national-level predictors of biodiversity loss, particularly factors associated with increased development, population growth, production, and relative position in international culture and politics. This project complements such research by replicating existing models with some improved key measures and implementing the before untested measure of ecological alienation. Results indicate that ecological alienation is a strong predictor of biodiversity loss and also call into question the relevance of mechanisms associated global social systems in explaining biodiversity loss. The paper concludes with a theoretical interpretation of results, which considers the causal mechanisms by which such cultural components of MRT increase the likelihood of species extinction nationally.

Author

• Jonathan Dahlem