Environmentalism and environmental education: from discourses to social practice

DOI: 10.15343/0104-7809.200630.4.1

Abstract

A great variety of social representations and practices develops in the context of Environmentalism and Environmental
Education – EE. Based on a classification proposed by O’Riordan about trends of Environmentalism and the Theory of Social Representations
proposed by Moscovici, the author presents a research that was developed as a doctorate thesis having among other aims to
identify social representations and practices on EE of a group of environmental educators. The methodology was qualitative and the
techniques used were questionnaires and interviews. By means of discourses analysis, it was possible to identify four types of social
representations. The first two attributed to EE the task of changing people’s attitude and behavior, but one of these two adopted a
rational and conservationist approach. The second, most likely inspired by romantic ideas, recommended strategies such as self-knowledge,
the integration of human beings to Nature and the promotion of affective bonds. The third one, probably inspired by ecosocialist
ideas, attributed to EE the task of changing people’s behavior and the social structure. According to the fourth type, EE should provide
techniques and methods to face the problems, something that could be considered a technocentric approach. Their practices varied from
those more related to the individual and her relationship with the world and those that focused mainly on problem-solving situations.
The results showed that practices based on the principles of Critical Education have more potential to generate transformative actions
for improving quality of life in society.