Unveiling Perspectives and Insights: A Survey of Environmental and Natural Resource Sociologists and Social Scientists

Abstract

Existing literature on the intersection of environmental sociology (ES) and natural resource sociology (NRS) suggests that a better understanding of the diverse perceptions, experiences, and practices of individual researchers in these subfields are informative in understanding the trajectory of environmental and natural resource sociologies including where more convergence might occur. We present the descriptive results of an online survey of members of relevant domestic and international professional societies or networks to gauge scholars’ perspectives on these two subdisciplines of sociological studies of society–environment relationships. Our results show that while some distinctions persist in levels of analysis and geographic foci, several common assumptions, such as stark differences in theoretical and interdisciplinary orientations of the two subfields, are not as prevalent as widely assumed. We hope this effort to map out individual scholars’ perspectives on ES and NRS can stimulate further thoughts and interactions among colleagues of all persuasions.