Dissertation
TOWARD A CONSERVATION SOCIOLOGY: MEANING, POWER, AND TIME IN ISLAND MARBLE BUTTERFLY (EUCHLOE AUSONIDES INSULANA) CONSERVATION
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2020
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/111499
Abstract
Rapid, planet-wide, anthropogenic biodiversity loss poses a grave threat to the stability of ecological and human social systems. Yet, the relationship between human social systems and species extinction remains understudied by environmental sociologists, while the sociological perspective remains under-utilized by conservation biologists. This book-length dissertation seeks to put forth Conservation Sociology, a call for increased synthesis of interdisciplinary research on species extinction and conservation with sociological theory and research methods. To do so, the dissertation presents original qualitative research examining the case of the conservation of the Island Marble Butterfly (IMB), a highly threatened species native to San Juan Island, WA. Employing in-depth interviews, participant observation, and ethnography, this research analyzes the group of IMB conservation stakeholders, attending to the role of internal and external social forces, especially as they pertain to the social production of meaning, power, and reckonings of time. The result is a research report that offers an historical account of IMB conservation, a theoretical foundation for Conservation Sociology, and a demonstration of the capacity of Conservation Sociology for empirical description, theoretical contribution, and practical application. A synthesis of the conclusions of each internal research agenda indicates that power and control of knowledge and action both among IMB stakeholders and between the conservation collaboration and its broader political economic context render IMB conservation through local and global social systems, a product not only of science, but of social forces. In particular, the IMB’s conservation collaboration exhibits qualities of participation in the broader extant paradigm of neoliberal conservation, that in the IMB’s specific context contributes to its conservation successes, such as its proposal for listing as a federally endangered species, while constraining stakeholders’ efforts to ultimately address the underlying social causes of its threatened condition.
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Details
- Title
- TOWARD A CONSERVATION SOCIOLOGY: MEANING, POWER, AND TIME IN ISLAND MARBLE BUTTERFLY (EUCHLOE AUSONIDES INSULANA) CONSERVATION
- Creators
- Jonathan Dahlem
- Contributors
- Jennifer Sherman (Advisor)Erik Johnson (Committee Member)Jessica Goldberger (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Sociology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 208
- Identifiers
- 99900581414201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation