Social ecology studies relationships between people and their environment, often the interdependence of people, collectives and institutions. Evolving out of biological ecology, human ecology, systems theory and ecological psychology, social ecology takes a “broad, interdisciplinary perspective that gives greater attention to the social, psychological, institutional, and cultural contexts of people-environment relations than did earlier versions of human ecology.”
As described by Stokols, the core principles of social ecology include:
Multidimensional structure of human environments—physical & social, natural & built features; objective-material as well as perceived-symbolic (or semiotic); virtual & place-based featuresCross-disciplinary, multi-level, contextual analyses of people-environment relationships spanning proximal and distal scales (from narrow to broad spatial, sociocultural, and temporal scope)Systems principles, especially feedback loops, interdependence of system elements, anticipating unintended side effects of public policies and environmental interventionsTranslation of theory and research findings into community interventions and public policiesPrivileging and combining both academic and non-academic perspectives, including scientists and academicians, lay citizens and community stakeholder groups, business leaders and other professional groups, and government decision makers.Transdisciplinary values and orientation, synthesizing concepts and methods from different fields that pertain to particular research topics.Several academic programs combine a broad definition of “environmental studies” with analyses of social processes, biological considerations, and the physical environment. A number of social ecology degree-granting programs and research institutes shape the global evolution of the social ecological paradigm. For example, see:
UC Irvine School of Social EcologyYale School of Forestry & Environmental StudiesCornell University College of Human EcologyNew York University, Environmental EducationThe Institute for Social Ecology in Plainfield, VTThe Institute for Social-Ecological Research, FrankfurtInstitute of Social Ecology, ViennaStockholm Resilience CentreMost of the 120 listed programs at the link below are in human ecology, but many overlap with social ecology:
Society for Human Ecology list of programs and institutions