Social ecology. Social Ecology Study Subject

Social ecology is a scientific discipline that considers the relationship of society with the geographical, social and cultural environment, i.e. with the environment surrounding a person. Communities of people in connection with their environment have a dominant social organization (levels are considered from elementary social groups to humanity as a whole). The history of the emergence of society has long been studied by anthropologists and social scientists-sociologists.
The main goal of social ecology is to optimize the coexistence of man and the environment on a systematic basis. A person, acting in this case as a society, making large contingents of people a subject of social ecology, breaking up into separate groups depending on their social status, occupation, age. Each of the groups, in turn, is associated with specific relationships with the environment within the framework of housing, recreation areas, a garden area, and so on.
Social ecology is the science of adaptation of subjects to processes in natural and artificial environments. The object of social ecology: the subjective reality of subjects of different levels. The subject of social ecology: adaptation of subjects to processes in natural and artificial environments.
The goal of social ecology as a science is to create a theory of the evolution of the relationship between man and nature, the logic and methodology of transforming the natural environment. Social ecology is designed to understand and help bridge the gap between man and nature, between humanitarian and natural science knowledge.
Social ecology reveals the laws of the relationship between nature and society, which are as fundamental as physical laws.

But the complexity of the subject of research itself, which includes three qualitatively different subsystems - inanimate and living nature and human society, and the short time of existence of this discipline lead to the fact that social ecology, at least at the present time, is mainly an empirical science, and the patterns are extremely aphoristic statements.
The concept of law is interpreted by most methodologists in the sense of an unambiguous causal relationship. Cybernetics gives a broader interpretation of the concept of law as a limitation of diversity, and it is more suitable for social ecology, which reveals the fundamental limitations of human activity. The main one of the laws can be formulated as follows: the transformation of nature must correspond to its adaptive capabilities.
One of the ways to formulate socio-ecological laws is to transfer them from sociology and ecology. For example, the law of conformity of productive forces and production relations to the state of the natural environment is proposed as the basic law of social ecology, which is a modification of one of the laws of political economy.
Two directions are subordinated to the fulfillment of the tasks of social ecology: theoretical (fundamental) and applied. Theoretical social ecology is aimed at studying the patterns of interaction between human society and the environment, at developing a general theory of their balanced interaction. In this context, the problem of identifying the co-evolutionary laws of modern industrial society and the nature it is changing comes to the fore.

Definition, item, goals and tasks social ecology. Social ecology- a scientific discipline that considers the relationship between society and geography, social and cultural environments, i.e. with the environment surrounding a person.

Definition, item, goals and tasks social ecology. Social ecology- a scientific discipline that considers the relationship between society and geographic, social ... more ".

Definition, item, goals and tasks social ecology.
Theoretical function social ecology has its aim primarily the development of basic conceptual paradigms (examples) explaining the nature of ecological development of society, man and ...

If there is a problem. If the application does not start on your phone, use this form. Item forecasting, goals and tasks forecasting, the main definitions.

Comparison with each other is no less revealing. definitions social ecology and ecology
It is easy to see that such an interpretation subject ecology human actually
The main tasks social ecology based on this may be identified...

social ecology
The organization of the environmental management system includes: ecological politicians; definition goals, tasks, environmental policy priorities; production ...

2. Definition prevalence, symptomatology and degree of manifestation of speech disorders.
Data solution tasks defines the course of speech therapy.

It is enough to download the cheat sheets for social ecology- and you are not afraid of any exam!
Ecological an audit is a systematic, documented process of verifying objectively obtained and measurable audit evidence in order to definitions matching ...

Water resources are water reserves of internal and territorial seas, lakes, rivers, reservoirs, Item, goal, tasks and a system of indicators for natural resource statistics.

System analysis is designed to solve complex poorly-solvable tasks
it definition can be considered a systemic defining subject area.
Target system analysis - to find out these interactions, their potential and "direct them to the service of man."

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SOCIAL ECOLOGY is a branch of science that studies the relationship between human communities and the surrounding geographic-spatial, social and cultural environment, the direct and secondary impact of production activities on the composition and properties of the environment, the environmental impact of anthropogenic, especially urbanized, landscapes, and other environmental factors on physical and mental health of a person and the gene pool of human populations, etc. Already in the 19th century, the American scientist D.P. Marsh, having analyzed the various forms of human destruction of natural equilibrium, formulated a program for the protection of nature. French geographers of the 20th century (P. Vidal de la Blache, J. Brune, 3. Martonne) developed the concept of human geography, the subject of which is the study of a group of phenomena occurring on the planet and involved in human activities. The works of representatives of the Dutch and French geographical schools of the 20th century (L. Febvre, M. Sor), constructive geography developed by Soviet scientists A.A. Grigoriev, I.P. Gerasimov, analyze the impact of man on the geographical landscape, the embodiment of his space.

The development of geochemistry and biogeochemistry revealed the transformation of the production activity of mankind into a powerful geochemical factor, which served as the basis for identifying a new geological era - anthropogenic (Russian geologist A.P. Pavlov) or psychozoic (American scientist C. Schukhert). VI Vernadsky's doctrine of the biosphere and noosphere is associated with a new look at the geological consequences of the social activity of mankind.

A number of aspects of social ecology are also studied in historical geography, which studies the connections between ethnic groups and the natural environment. The formation of social ecology is associated with the activities of the Chicago school. The subject and status of social ecology are the subject of debate: it is defined either as a systemic understanding of the environment, or as a science of the social mechanisms of the relationship of human society with the environment, or as a science that focuses on humans as a biological species (Homo sapiens). Social ecology has significantly changed scientific thinking, developing new theoretical approaches and methodological orientations among representatives of various sciences, contributing to the formation of new environmental thinking. Social ecology analyzes the natural environment as a differentiated system, the various components of which are in dynamic equilibrium, considers the Earth's biosphere as an ecological niche of humanity, linking the environment and human activities into a single "nature - society" system, reveals the human impact on the balance of natural ecosystems, raises the question about the management and rationalization of the relationship between man and nature. Environmental thinking finds its expression in the various options put forward for the reorientation of technology and production. Some of them are associated with the moods of environmental pessimism and aparmism (from the French alarme - anxiety), with the revival of reactionary-romantic concepts of the Russoist sense, from the point of view of which the root cause of the ecological crisis is in itself scientific and technological progress, with the emergence of the doctrines of “organic growth "," Steady state ", etc., who consider it necessary to sharply limit or even suspend technical and economic development. In other versions, in opposition to this pessimistic assessment of the future of mankind and the prospects for natural resource management, projects are being put forward for a radical restructuring of technology, getting rid of the miscalculations that led to environmental pollution (a program of alternative science and technology, a model of closed production cycles), creating new technical means and technological processes ( transport, energy, etc.), acceptable from an environmental point of view. The principles of social ecology are also expressed in ecological economics, which takes into account the costs not only for the development of nature, but also for the protection and restoration of the ecosphere, emphasizes the importance of criteria not only for profitability and productivity, but also for the ecological soundness of technical innovations, ecological control over planning. industry and nature management. The ecological approach has led to the isolation within the social ecology of the ecology of culture, in which ways are sought for the preservation and restoration of various elements of the cultural environment created by mankind throughout its history (architectural monuments, landscapes, etc.), and the ecology of science, in which it is analyzed geographical location of research centers, personnel, imbalances in the regional and national network of research institutes, media, funding in the structure of scientific communities.

The development of social ecology served as a powerful impetus for the advancement of new values to humanity - the preservation of ecosystems, the attitude to the Earth as a unique ecosystem, a careful and careful attitude towards living things, the co-evolution of nature and humanity, etc. Tendencies towards the ecological reorientation of ethics are found in various ethical concepts: A. Schweitzer's doctrine of reverent attitude towards life, the ethics of nature of the American ecologist O. Leopold, the space ethics of K.E. Tsiolkovsky, the ethics of love of life developed by the Soviet biologist D.P. Filatov, and others.

The problems of social ecology are usually referred to as the most acute and urgent among the global problems of modernity, on the solution of which the survival possibilities of both humanity itself and all life on Earth depend. A necessary condition for their solution is the recognition of the priority of universal human values, as the basis for broad international cooperation of various social, political, national, class and other forces in overcoming the environmental dangers that are fraught with the arms race, uncontrolled scientific and technological progress, many anthropogenic impacts on the environment. person.

At the same time, the problems of social ecology are expressed in specific forms in regions of the planet that are different in their natural-geographic and socio-economic parameters, at the level of specific ecosystems. Taking into account the limited sustainability and self-healing ability of natural ecosystems, as well as their cultural value, is becoming an increasingly important factor in the design and implementation of industrial activities of man and society. This often forces us to abandon previously adopted programs for the development of productive forces and the use of natural resources.

In general, the historically developing human activity in modern conditions acquires a new dimension - it cannot be considered truly reasonable, meaningful and expedient if it ignores the requirements and imperatives dictated by ecology.

A. P. Ogurtsov, B. G. Yudin

New Philosophical Encyclopedia. In four volumes. / Institute of Philosophy RAS. Scientific ed. advice: V.S. Stepin, A.A. Guseinov, G.Yu. Semigin. M., Thought, 2010, vol.IV, p. 423-424.

Literature:

Marsh D.P. Man and nature, trans. from English SPb., 1866; Dorst J. Before nature dies, trans. with French M., 1908; Watt K. Ecology and Natural Resource Management, trans. from English M., 1971; Ehrenfeld D. Nature and people, trans. from English M., 1973; The interaction of nature and society. Philosophical, geographical, ecological aspects of the problem. Sat. Art. M., 1973; Man and his environment. - "VF", 1973, No. 1-4; Commoner B. The Closing Circle, trans. from English L., 1974; He's the same. Profit technology, trans. from English M., 1970; B. Ward, R. Dubo. There is only one land, trans. from English M., 1975; Budyka M.I.Global ecology. M., 1977; Dynamic balance of man and nature. Minsk, 1977; Odum G., Odum E. Energy basis of man and nature, trans. from English M., 1978; Moiseev N.N., Aleksandrov V.V., TarkoA. M. Man and the biosphere. M., 1985; Human ecology problems. M., 1986; Odum Y. Ecology, trans. from English, v. 1-2. M "1986; Gorelov A.A. Social ecology. M., 1998; Park R. E. Human Communities. The City and Human Ecology. Glencoe, 1952; Perspectives en Ecologie Humaine. P., 1972; Ehrlich P. R., Ehrllch A. H., Holdren J. P. Human Ecology: Problems and Solutions. S. F., 1973; Lexikon der Umweltethik. Gott. - Dusseldorf, 1985.

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MINISTRY OF BRANCHRUSSIA

Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education

"RUSSIANSTATEHUMANITARIANUNIVERSITY "(RSUH)

INSTITUTE OF ECONOMY, GOVERNANCE AND LAW

MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT

Ecology Abstract

Social ecology

2nd year students

full-time education

Potkina Tatiana Nikolaevna

Moscow 2012

Introduction

1. Social ecology, its subject

1.1 Definitions of social ecology

1.2 Subject of study

1.3 The problem of developing a common understanding of the approach to understanding the subject of social ecology

1.4 Principles of social ecology

2. Stages of development of social ecology

2.1 First stage

2.2 Second stage

2.3 Third stage

3. Environmental education

3.1 The essence of environmental education

3.2 Three components of environmental education

3.3 The main directions of environmental education

4. The technical process as a source of social and environmental problems

4.1 Conflict of technology and ecology

4.2 Socio-ecological problems of our time

4.3 Environmental content of scientific and technological revolution

Conclusion

List of source and literature

Introduction

In the 60s and 70s, it became obvious that the range of problems of modern ecology had expanded unusually, that it no longer fit into the framework of traditional biological science - ecology, which was first mentioned back in 1868 by the German biologist E. Haeckel in his book “Natural history of origin ". It does not fit, if only because environmental tension begins in the field of technology. Consequently, both technology and technical sciences are directly related to the environmental problem. But the socio-economic beginning is an even broader position that allows one to outline the true range of interests and problems of modern ecology on a large scale and comprehensively.

The priority name has become different - social ecology. This term, introduced into scientific circulation by Soviet philosophers, has become quite widespread, both in the USSR - Russia, and in the West. It is understood as an interdisciplinary complex of environmental management, the principles of organizing human activity, taking into account objective environmental laws.

The concept of social ecology is closely related to the essence of the teachings of V.I. Vernadsky and T. de Chardin about the noosphere - the sphere of reason - the highest stage of development of the biosphere, associated with the emergence and formation of civilized humanity in it. It is the inseparability of the latter from the biosphere that indicates, according to Vernadsky, the main goal in the construction of the noosphere. The task is to preserve the type of biosphere in which man arose and can exist as a species.

So, the question of the term "social ecology" is more or less clear. However, there is still debate about its content and structure. It is clear that social ecology must incorporate the relevant parts of the natural, social and technical sciences. The scheme of G. A. Bachinsky, an ecologist from Lvov, is based on this principle.

The links between geography and ecology are traditional and diverse. In the 1920s and 1930s, American geographers called geography human ecology; in the 1930s, the famous German geographer K. Troll introduced the term "geoecology" and already in the 1960s and 1970s it became widespread in the West. Finally, in the 70s, Academician VB Sochava wrote about "human ecology as a key concept in geography." The term "geoecology" can be explained as follows: geographers deal with the structure and interaction of two main systems: ecological (uniting humans and the environment) and spatial (connecting one region to another through a complex volume of flows). The synthesis of these two approaches is the essence of geoecology. Any global problem cannot be solved without its preliminary "regionalization", without a detailed consideration of the country and regional situation, finding specific ways to solve it in a given place and in given conditions (natural, economic, social). It is no coincidence that the first global models (D. Meadows and others) were criticized precisely for the “total” globality, for the absence of “regionalization”. However, for maximum generalization, identification of general and most pressing environmental problems, another approach is also possible - a global one. The inextricable connection of such approaches is emphasized by the well-known slogan widely used in the modern world - “think globally, act locally”.

1. Social ecology, its subject, principles and problems

1 .1 Definitionssocialecology

Social ecology (or socioecology) is a complex of scientific disciplines that considers relationships in the “society - natural environment” system and develops the scientific foundations for optimizing the human living environment. The terminology in this area is not well established. From the point of view of some scientists, social ecology should study the relationship of society with the geographical, social and cultural environment; according to the position of others, this is a section of human ecology that considers the relationship of social groups of society with nature, etc. Moreover, in some cases socioecology includes human ecology, in others, socioecology itself is a part of human ecology. Nevertheless, social ecology is an internationally recognized scientific direction. It achieved a similar status in the system of sciences thanks to the elimination of biological determinism in defining its subject. This was facilitated by a change in the understanding that ecology is not only a natural, but also a humanitarian science.

Social ecology analyzes the attitude of a person in its inherent humanistic horizon from the point of view of its compliance with the historical needs of human development, from the perspective of cultural justification and perspective, through the theoretical comprehension of the world in its general definitions, which express the measure of the historical unity of man and nature. Any scientist thinks over the main concepts of the problem of interaction between society and nature through the prism of his science. The conceptual and categorical apparatus of socioecology is being formed, developed and improved. This process is diverse and covers all aspects of socioecology, not only objectively, but also subjectively, in a peculiar way reflecting scientific creativity and influencing the evolution of scientific interests and searches of both individual scientists and entire groups.

1 .2 Itemstudyingsocialecology

The subject of the study of social ecology is to identify the patterns of development of this system, value-worldview, socio-cultural, legal and other prerequisites and conditions for its sustainable development. That is, the subject of social ecology is a relation in the system “society-man-technology-natural environment”.

In this system, all elements and subsystems are homogeneous, and the connections between them determine its invariability and structure. The object of social ecology is the "society-nature" system.

1 .3 Problemworking outa singleapproachTounderstandingsubjectsocialecology

One of the most important problems facing researchers at the present stage of the formation of social ecology is the development of a unified approach to understanding its subject. Despite the obvious progress achieved in the study of various aspects of the relationship between man, society and nature, as well as a significant number of publications on social and environmental issues that have appeared in the last two to three decades in our country and abroad, on the issue of what exactly is studying this branch of scientific knowledge, there are still different opinions.

In the school reference book "Ecology" A.P. Oshmarin and V.I. Oshmarina gives two options for defining social ecology: in the narrow sense, it is understood as the science "of the interaction of human society with the natural environment", and in the broad sense of the science "of the interaction of an individual and human society with natural, social and cultural environments." It is quite obvious that in each of the presented cases of interpretation we are talking about different sciences, claiming the right to be called "social ecology". No less indicative is the comparison between the definitions of social ecology and human ecology. According to the same source, the latter is defined as: “1) the science of the interaction of human society with nature; 2) the ecology of the human person; 3) the ecology of human populations, including the doctrine of ethnic groups. " The almost complete identity of the definition of social ecology, understood "in the narrow sense", and the first version of the interpretation of human ecology is clearly visible.

The striving for the actual identification of these two branches of scientific knowledge, indeed, is still characteristic of foreign science, but it is quite often subjected to well-reasoned criticism by domestic scientists. SN Solomina, in particular, pointing out the feasibility of breeding social ecology and human ecology, limits the subject to the latter consideration of the socio-hygienic and medico-genetic aspects of the relationship between man, society and nature. With a similar interpretation of the subject of human ecology, V.A. Bukhvalov, L.V. Bogdanova and some other researchers, but strongly disagree with N.A. Aghajanyan, V.P. Kaznacheev and N.F. Reimers, in their opinion, this discipline covers a much wider range of issues of interaction of the anthroposystem (considered at all levels of its organization from the individual to humanity as a whole) with the biosphere, as well as with the internal biosocial organization of human society. It is easy to see that such an interpretation of the subject of human ecology actually equates it with social ecology, understood in a broad sense. This situation is largely due to the fact that at present there has been a steady tendency for these two disciplines to converge, when there is an interpenetration of the subjects of the two sciences and their mutual enrichment due to the joint use of the empirical material accumulated in each of them, as well as methods and technologies of socio-ecological and anthropoecological research.

Today, an increasing number of researchers are inclined towards an expanded interpretation of the subject of social ecology. So, according to D.Zh. Markovich, the subject of study of modern social ecology, understood by him as a private sociology, is the specific connections between a person and his environment. Based on this, the main tasks of social ecology can be defined as follows: the study of the influence of the habitat as a combination of natural and social factors on humans, as well as the influence of humans on the environment, perceived as the framework of human life.

A somewhat different, but not contradicting the previous, interpretation of the subject of social ecology is given by T.A. Akimov and V.V. Haskin. From their point of view, social ecology as a part of human ecology is a complex of scientific branches that study the relationship of social structures (starting with the family and other small social groups), as well as the relationship of a person with the natural and social environment of their habitat. This approach seems to us to be more correct, because it does not limit the subject of social ecology to the framework of sociology or any other separate humanitarian discipline, but especially emphasizes its interdisciplinary nature.

When defining the subject of social ecology, some researchers tend to emphasize the role that this young science is called upon to play in harmonizing the relationship of mankind with its environment. According to E.V. Girusov, social ecology should study, first of all, the laws of society and nature, by which he understands the laws of self-regulation of the biosphere, implemented by man in his life.

1 .4 Principlessocialecology

· Humanity, like any population, cannot grow indefinitely.

· Society in its development should take into account the measure of biospheric phenomena.

· Sustainable development of society depends on the timeliness of the transition to alternative resources and technologies.

Any transformative activity of society should be based on an environmental forecast

· The development of nature should not reduce the diversity of the biosphere and worsen the quality of life of people.

· Sustainable development of civilization depends on the moral qualities of people.

· Everyone is responsible for their actions to the future.

· We need to think globally, act locally.

· The unity of nature obliges humanity to cooperate.

2. Development stages of social ecology

2 .1 Firststage

The population explosion and the scientific and technological revolution have led to a colossal increase in the consumption of natural resources. So, today in the world 3.5 billion tons of oil and 4.5 billion tons of hard coal and brown coal are produced annually. At such a rate of consumption, it became obvious that many natural resources would be depleted in the near future. At the same time, the waste of giant industries began to increasingly pollute the environment, destroying the health of the population. In all industrialized countries, cancer, chronic pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases are widespread. Scientists were the first to sound the alarm.

The starting point of modern social ecology can be called the book by R. Karson, published in 1961, "Silent Spring", devoted to the negative environmental consequences of the use of DDT. The background of the writing of this work is very revealing. The transition to the cultivation of monocultures required the use of pesticides to combat the so-called agricultural pests. The order received by the chemists was fulfilled and a potent drug with the desired properties was synthesized. The author of the invention, the Swiss scientist Müller, received the Nobel Prize in 1947, but after a very short time it became clear that DDT affects not only harmful species, but, having the ability to accumulate in living tissues, has a detrimental effect on all living things, including the human body. Freely moving over large areas and with difficulty decomposing, the drug was found even in the liver of Antarctica penguins. R. Karson's book began the stage of accumulating data on the negative ecological consequences of scientific and technological revolution, which showed that an ecological crisis is taking place on our planet.

The first stage of social ecology can be called empirical, since the collection of empirical data obtained through observation predominated. This direction of environmental research subsequently led to global monitoring, i.e. observation and collection of data on the ecological situation on our planet.

Beginning in 1968, the Italian economist Aurelio Peccei began annually to gather in Rome prominent experts from different countries to discuss issues of the future of civilization. These meetings were called the Club of Rome. In the first reports to the Club of Rome, simulation mathematical methods developed by MIT professor Jay Forrester were successfully applied to the study of trends in the development of socio-natural global processes. Forrester used research methods created and applied in the natural and technical sciences to study the processes of evolution, both in nature and in society, taking place on a global scale. On this basis, the concept of world dynamics was built. For the first time, the social forecast took into account the components that can be called ecological: the finite nature of mineral resources and the limited ability of natural complexes to absorb and neutralize wastes from human production activities.

If the previous forecasts, which took into account only traditional trends (production growth, consumption growth and population growth), were optimistic, then taking into account environmental parameters immediately translated the global forecast into a pessimistic version, showing the inevitability of a downward line of society development by the end of the first third of the 21st century in connection with the possibility of depletion of mineral resources and excessive pollution of the natural environment. So, for the first time in science, the problem of a possible end of civilization was posed not in the distant future, which was repeatedly warned by various prophets, but for a very specific period of time and for very specific and even prosaic reasons. There was a need for such an area of knowledge that would thoroughly investigate the discovered problem and find out the way to prevent an impending catastrophe.

2 .2 SecondthisNS

In 1972, the book "The Limits to Growth" was published, prepared by D. Medouz's group, who created the first so-called "models of the world", which marked the beginning of the second model stage of social ecology. The particular success of the book "The Limits of Growth" is determined both by its futurological orientation and sensational conclusions, there and by the fact that for the first time material concerning the most diverse aspects of human activity was collected in a formal model and studied with the help of a computer. In the “models of the world”, the five main trends of world development - rapid population growth, accelerated industrial growth, widespread undernutrition, depletion of irreplaceable resources and environmental pollution - were considered in conjunction with each other. The authors of The Limits to Growth proposed a cardinal solution to overcome the threat of an ecological catastrophe - to stabilize the population of the planet and at the same time the capital invested in production at a constant level. Such a state of "global equilibrium", according to the Meadows group, does not mean stagnation, because human activity that does not require a large expenditure of irreplaceable resources and does not lead to environmental degradation (science, art, education, sports) can progress indefinitely. Proponents of "global equilibrium" do not take into account, however, the fact that the increasing technical power of man, increasing his ability to withstand natural disasters (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, sharp climate change, etc.), which he is not yet able to cope with, stimulated precisely by production goals, at least for the time being.

The assumption that the government of all countries can be forced or persuaded to maintain the population at a constant level is clearly unrealistic, and from this, among other things, it already follows that it is impossible to accept the proposal to stabilize industrial and agricultural production. We can talk about the limits of growth in certain directions, but not about the absolute limits. The task is to foresee the dangers of growth in any directions and to choose ways of flexible reorientation of development for the fullest possible implementation of the set goals.

2 . 3 Thirdstage

After the 1992 international conference on the problems of planet Earth in Rio de Janeiro, in which the heads of 179 states took part and at which for the first time the world community developed an agreed development strategy, we can talk about the beginning of the third global political stage of social ecology.

3. Environmental education

3 .1 The essenceecologicaleducation

Environmental education is a purposeful influence on a person at all stages of her life with the help of an expanded system of means and methods, which is aimed at the formation of environmental consciousness, environmental culture, environmental behavior, environmental responsibility. The need to educate members of society in certain attitudes of behavior in relation to nature arose in humanity at the most ancient stages of its development.

One of the most important tasks of environmental education is the formation in nature users, each citizen and in society as a whole, persistent attitudes towards rational use of natural resources, the ability to see the solution of individual problems, the environmental consequences of interference in natural processes, a sense of responsibility before present and future generations for the influence of their own actions are distant. on the ability of nature to be the environment for human existence.

Environmental education is a continuous process of study, upbringing, self-education, accumulation of experience and personal development, aimed at the formation of value orientations, norms of behavior and special knowledge regarding the preservation of the environment and the use of natural resources, implemented in environmentally competent activities. Very important for understanding the specifics of environmental education is the thesis that it should not act only as a system of prohibitions on certain actions. In addition to the calls that nature should be loved and protected, it is necessary to learn competent and professionally integrated nature management.

3 .2 Threeconstituentsecologicaleducation

A closer look in the process of environmental education can be divided into three relatively independent, both by methods and by goals, which are: environmental educational, environmental education and environmental education itself. They represent certain stages in the process of continuous environmental education in a broad sense.

Environmental education is the first degree in environmental education. It is intended to form the first, elementary knowledge about the peculiarities of the relationship between society and nature, about the suitability of the environment for human habitation, about the influence of human production activities on the world around us.

Environmental education is a psychological and pedagogical process of influencing a person, the purpose of which is to form the theoretical level of environmental consciousness, which in a systematic form reflects the various aspects of the unity of the world, the laws of the dialectical unity of society and nature, certain knowledge and practical skills of rational environmental management.

The purpose of environmental education is to equip a person with knowledge in the field of natural, technical and social sciences, about the peculiarities of interaction between society and nature, to develop in it the ability to understand and evaluate specific actions and situations.

The highest stage is ecological education - a psychological and pedagogical process, the purpose of which is to form in an individual not only scientific knowledge, but also certain beliefs, moral principles that determine his life position and behavior in the field of environmental protection and rational use of natural resources, ecological culture individual citizens and society as a whole, In the process of environmental education, a certain system of environmental values is formed, which will determine the thrifty attitude of man to nature, will encourage it to solve the problem of the global environmental crisis. Firstly, it provides not only the transfer of knowledge, but also the formation of convictions, the readiness of the individual, for specific actions, and secondly, it includes knowledge and the ability to carry out, along with the protection of nature, rational use of natural resources.

The specificity of ecological education lies in the development of a worldview attitude to the complex, holistic system "society-nature", the attitude of the individual to which is impossible without effective, direct and mediated participation in its functioning. The complex nature of ecological education emerges from the specifics of the object of reflection of ecological consciousness at the level of both social and personal, its functioning.

The main principle of ecological education is the principle of the material unity of the world, which organically includes the problem of social and ecological education in the system of forming a scientific worldview. Among others, one can also highlight the principles of complexity, continuity, patriotism, a combination of personal and common interests.

3 .3 The maindirectionsecologicaleducation

In the system of environmental education, the following main directions can be distinguished:

1. Political. Its important methodological principle is the provision on the correspondence between the relations between people prevailing in society and the prevailing attitude towards nature in society, which emerges from the basic law of social ecology. This direction contributes to the formation of environmental consciousness and environmental culture and a scientific approach to assessing both specific environmental problems in different socio-political systems, and the nature of these systems themselves.

2. Naturally scientific. It is based on a scientific understanding of the indissoluble unity of society and nature. Society is inextricably linked with nature, both by its origin and existence. In social terms, society is connected with nature through production, without which it cannot exist. Nature creates potential conditions for man to meet his material and spiritual needs. These needs are realized only through purposeful activities. In the production process, a person creates his own flows of matter and energy, which disorganized the cycles of energy and metabolic substances existing in nature and polished over billions of years. Thus, there is a violation of the action of the mechanisms of self-reproduction of the main qualitative parameters of the biosphere, those objective conditions that ensure the existence of man as a biological being. These violations are generated by the limited knowledge available about the laws of the development of nature, the inability to take into account all the possible consequences of human activity.

3. Legal. Environmental knowledge, developing into conviction and action, should be closely combined with the active participation of the individual in the observance by himself and others of the norms of environmental legislation, in which public interests should be reflected. The state, as the main mechanism for regulating and harmonizing the common interests of the individual and society in their relationship with nature, has the exclusive right not only to create environmental legislation, but also to coercive actions regarding individuals or their groups, aimed at observing these laws.

This direction is closely related to the formation of environmental responsibility, and not only legal, but also moral.

4. Morally aesthetic. The modern ecological situation requires from humanity a new moral orientation in relations with nature, a revision of certain norms of human behavior in the natural environment. In societies that are at the industrial stage of development, morality orients nature users towards the predatory exploitation of natural resources, towards meeting the needs of members of society, regardless of the environmental consequences of production activities. During the transition to the industrial stage of development, when there is a qualitative leap in productive forces, the formation of an ecological imperative, which should become the norm for the moral regulation of specific ways of mastering nature, is one of the most urgent requirements.

5. Worldview. Environmental education cannot be effective without properly forming the foundations of the worldview. In order for an individual to be able to take part in the elimination of the threat of an ecological crisis, in order for it to become his inner need, his ability to give scientifically substantiated answers to the question of the essence of the world, nature, man, about the goals and limits of human knowledge and the transformation of the surrounding natural the world, about the meaning of human existence.

The main goal of environmental education is the formation of an environmental culture, which should include an environmental imperative, a system of environmental values and environmental responsibility.

4. The technical process as a source of social and environmental problems

4 .1 Conflicttechnologiesandecology

If our ancestors limited their activities only to adaptation to nature and the appropriation of its finished products, they would never have left the animal state in which they were originally. Only in opposition to nature, in constant struggle with it and transformation in accordance with their needs and goals could a creature be formed, which had passed the way from animal to man. Man was not born of nature alone, as is often claimed. The beginning of a person could only be given by such a not entirely natural form of activity as labor, the main feature of which is the production of certain objects (products) by the subject of labor with the help of other objects (tools). It was labor that became the basis of human evolution.

Labor activity, having given a person colossal advantages in the struggle for survival over other animals, at the same time put him in danger of becoming, over time, a force capable of destroying the natural environment of his own life.

It would be wrong to think that environmental crises provoked by human activity became possible only with the emergence of sophisticated technology and strong demographic growth. One of the most severe ecological crises took place already at the beginning of the Neolithic. Having learned well enough to hunt animals, especially large ones, people by their actions led to the extinction of many of them, including mammoths. As a result, the food resources of many human communities have been sharply reduced, and this, in turn, has led to mass extinctions. According to various estimates, the population then decreased by 8-10 times. It was a colossal ecological crisis that grew into a socio-ecological catastrophe. A way out of it was found on the path of transition to agriculture, and then to cattle breeding, to a sedentary lifestyle. Thus, the ecological niche of the existence and development of mankind has significantly expanded, which was decisively promoted by the agrarian and handicraft revolution, which led to the emergence of qualitatively new tools of labor, which made it possible to multiply the impact of man on the natural environment. The era of man's “animal life” was over, he began to “actively and purposefully interfere with natural processes, rebuild natural biogeochemical cycles”.

Pollution of nature acquired significant dimensions and intensity only during the period of industrialization and urbanization, which led to significant civilizational changes and to a mismatch between economic and environmental development. This disagreement has taken on dramatic proportions since the 50s. our century, when the rapid and still unthinkable development of the productive forces caused such changes in nature, which lead to the destruction of the biological prerequisites for human life and society. Man created technologies that deny life forms in nature. The use of these technologies leads to an increase in entropy, denial of life. The conflict between technology and ecology has its source in man himself, who is both a natural being and a bearer of technological development.

4 .2 Socio-ecologicalProblemsmodernity

Environmental problems of our time in terms of their scale can be conditionally divided into local, regional and global and require dissimilar means and scientific developments of different nature for their solution. An example of a local environmental problem is a plant that dumps its industrial waste, harmful to human health, into the river without cleaning. This is a violation of the law. Nature protection authorities or the public must through a court fine such a plant and, under threat of closure, force it to build a treatment plant. In this case, special science is not required.

An example of regional environmental problems is the Kuzbass - an almost closed basin in the mountains filled with gases from coke ovens and the smoke of a metallurgical giant, or the drying up Aral Sea with a sharp deterioration of the ecological situation on its entire periphery, or high radioactivity of soils in the regions adjacent to Chernobyl.

Scientific research is already needed to solve such problems. In the first case, the development of rational methods for the absorption of smoke and gas aerosols, in the second, precise hydrological studies to develop recommendations for increasing the runoff into the Aral Sea, in the third, the elucidation of the impact on the health of the population of prolonged exposure to low doses of radiation and the development of methods for soil decontamination.

However, the anthropogenic impact on nature has reached such proportions that problems of a global nature have arisen, which no one could even suspect a few decades ago. Air pollution is occurring at a rapid rate. While the main means of obtaining energy remains the combustion of combustible fuel, therefore, oxygen consumption increases every year, and carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, as well as a huge amount of soot, dust and harmful aerosols, come in its place.

The sharp climate warming that began in the second half of the twentieth century is a reliable fact. The average temperature of the surface air layer, in comparison with 1956-1957, when the First International Geophysical Year was held, increased by 0.7 ° C. There is no warming at the equator, but the closer to the poles, the more noticeable it is. Beyond the Arctic Circle, it reaches 2 ° C. At the North Pole, the ice water warmed by 1 ° C and the ice cover began to melt from below4. Some scientists believe that warming is the result of burning a huge mass of fossil fuels and releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is a greenhouse gas, i.e. makes it difficult to transfer heat from the surface of the Earth. Others, referring to climate change in historical time, consider the anthropogenic factor of climate warming to be negligible and associate this phenomenon with increased solar activity.

The environmental problem of the ozone layer is no less complex. The depletion of the ozone layer is a much more dangerous reality for all life on Earth than the fall of some super-large meteorite. Ozone prevents dangerous cosmic radiation from reaching the Earth's surface. If not for ozone, these rays would destroy all living things. Research into the causes of the depletion of the planet's ozone layer has not yet provided definitive answers to all questions. The rapid growth of industry, accompanied by global pollution of the natural environment, has posed an unprecedentedly acute problem of raw materials. Of all types of resources, fresh water is in the first place in terms of the growth in demand for it and in the increase in deficit. 71% of the entire surface of the planet is occupied by water, but fresh water makes up only 2% of the total, and almost 80% of fresh water is in the ice sheet of the Earth. In most industrial areas, water is already perceptibly lacking, and its shortage is growing every year. In the future, the situation is alarming with another natural resource that was previously considered inexhaustible - atmospheric oxygen. When burning the products of photosynthesis of past eras - fossil fuels, free oxygen is bound into compounds.

4 .3 Ecologicalcontentscientific and technicalrevolution

The basis for the interaction of the natural environment and human society in the production of material goods is the growth of mediation in the production relationship of man to nature. Step by step, a person places between himself and nature, first the substance (instruments of labor) transformed with the help of his energy, then energy transformed with the help of instruments of labor and accumulated knowledge (steam engines, electrical installations, etc.), and finally, more recently, between the third major link of mediation arises by man and nature - information transformed with the help of electronic computers. Thus, the development of civilization is ensured by the continuous expansion of the sphere of material production, which covers first the tools of labor, then energy and, finally, recently, information.

The first link of mediation (the manufacture of tools) is associated with the leap from the animal world into the social world, with the second (the use of power plants) - the leap into a higher form of class antagonistic society, with the third (the creation and use of information devices) the conditionality of the transition to society is qualitatively a new state in interhuman relations, since for the first time there is a possibility of a sharp increase in people's free time for their full and harmonious development. In addition, the scientific and technological revolution necessitates a qualitatively new attitude to nature, since those contradictions between society and nature that previously existed in an implicit form are exacerbated to an extreme degree.

At the same time, the restriction on the part of energy sources of labor, which remained natural, began to affect more strongly. A contradiction arose between the new (artificial) means of processing matter and the old (natural) energy sources. The search for ways to resolve the arisen contradiction led to the discovery and use of artificial energy sources. But the very solution of the energy problem gave rise to a new contradiction between artificial methods of processing matter and obtaining energy, on the one hand, and the natural (with the help of the nervous system) method of processing information, on the other. The search for ways to remove this limitation was intensified, and the problem was solved with the invention of calculating machines. Now, finally, all three natural factors (matter, energy, information) have been captured by artificial means of their use by man. Thus, all natural restrictions on the development of production, inherent in this process, were removed.

Conclusion

Social ecology studies the structure, characteristics and tendencies of functioning of objects of a special kind, objects of the so-called "second nature", i.e. objects of an artificially created by man subject environment, interacting with the natural environment. It is the existence of a "second nature" in the overwhelming majority of cases that gives rise to environmental problems that arise at the junction of ecological and social systems. These, socioecological problems in their essence, act as the object of socioecological research.

Social ecology as a science has its own specific tasks and functions. Its main tasks are: the study of the relationship between human communities and the surrounding geographic-spatial, social and cultural environment, the direct and side effects of industrial activities on the composition and properties of the environment. Social ecology considers the Earth's biosphere as an ecological niche of mankind, linking the environment and human activities into a single “nature-society” system, reveals the human impact on the balance of natural ecosystems, studies the management and rationalization of the relationship between man and nature. The task of social ecology as a science is also to propose such effective methods of influencing the environment, which would not only prevent catastrophic consequences, but also make it possible to significantly improve the biological and social conditions for the development of man and all life on Earth.

Studying the causes of the degradation of the human environment and measures for its protection and improvement, social ecology should contribute to the expansion of the sphere of human freedom by creating more humane relations both to nature and to other people.

List of sources and literature

1. Bganba, V.R. Social ecology: textbook / V.R. Bganba - M .: Higher school, 2004 .-- 310 p.

2. Gorelov Anatoly Alekseevich. Social ecology / A. A. Gorelov. - M .: Mosk. Lyceum, 2005 .-- 406 p.

3. Malofeev, V.I. Social ecology: Textbook for universities / V. I. Malofeev - M .: "Dashkov and K", 2004. - 260 p.

4. Markov, Yu.G. Social ecology. Interaction between society and nature: Textbook / Yu.G. Markov - Novosibirsk: Siberian University Publishing House, 2004. - 544 p.

5. Sitarov, V.A. Social ecology: a textbook for students. higher. ped. study. institutions // V.A.Sitarov, V.V. Pustovoitov. - M .: Academy, 2000 .-- 280 p.

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Topic: Subject, tasks, history of social ecology

Plan

1. The concept of "social ecology"

1.1. Subject, tasks of ecology.

2. Formation of social ecology as a science

2.1. Human evolution and ecology

3. The place of social ecology in the system of sciences

4. Methods of social ecology

Social ecology is a scientific discipline that considers relationships in the "society-nature" system, studies the interaction and interrelationships of human society with the natural environment (Nikolai Reimers).

But such a definition does not reflect the specifics of this science. Social ecology is currently being formed as a private independent science with a specific subject of research, namely:

the composition and characteristics of the interests of social strata and groups that exploit natural resources;

perception by different social strata and groups of environmental problems and measures to regulate nature management;

taking into account and using in the practice of nature conservation measures the characteristics and interests of social strata and groups

Thus, social ecology is the science of the interests of social groups in the field of environmental management.

Social ecology tasks

The goal of social ecology is to create a theory of the evolution of the relationship between man and nature, the logic and methodology of transforming the natural environment. Social ecology is designed to understand and help bridge the gap between man and nature, between humanitarian and natural science knowledge.

Social ecology as a science should establish scientific laws, evidence of objectively existing necessary and essential connections between phenomena, the signs of which are the general nature, constancy and the possibility of their prediction, it is necessary to formulate the basic laws of interaction of elements in the system "society - nature" in this way, so that this allowed to establish a model of the optimal interaction of elements in this system.

Establishing the laws of social ecology, one should first of all point out those of them that proceeded from the understanding of society as an ecological subsystem. First of all, these are laws that were formulated in the thirties by Bauer and Vernadsky.

First law suggests that the geochemical energy of living matter in the biosphere (including humanity as the highest manifestation of living matter, endowed with intelligence) tends to maximum expression.

Second law contains a statement that in the course of evolution there remain those species of living beings, which by their vital activity maximally increase the biogenic geochemical energy.

Social ecology reveals the laws of the relationship between nature and society, which are as fundamental as physical laws. But the complexity of the subject of research itself, which includes three qualitatively different subsystems - inanimate and living nature and human society, and the short time of existence of this discipline lead to the fact that social ecology, at least at the present time, is mainly an empirical science, and the patterns are extremely general aphoristic statements (as, for example, the "laws" of the Commoner).

Law 1. Everything is connected with everything. This law postulates the unity of the World, it tells us about the need to look for and study the natural sources of events and phenomena, the emergence of chains connecting them, the stability and variability of these connections, the appearance of breaks and new links in them, stimulates the study of these breaks to heal, as well as to predict the course of events ...

Law 2. Everything must go somewhere. It is easy to see that this is, in essence, just a paraphrase of the well-known conservation laws. In its most primitive form, this formula can be interpreted as follows: matter does not disappear. The law should be extended to both information and spirituality. This law aims us at studying the ecological trajectories of movement of elements of nature.

Law 3. Nature knows best. Any major human intervention in natural systems is harmful to her. This law, as it were, separates man from nature. Its essence lies in the fact that everything that was created before man and without man is the product of long trial and error, the result of a complex process based on factors such as abundance, ingenuity, indifference to individuals with an all-encompassing desire for unity. In its formation and development, nature has developed a principle: what is collected, then it is understood. In nature, the essence of this principle is that no substance can be synthesized naturally if there is no means to destroy it. The whole cyclic mechanism is based on this. A person does not always provide for this in his activities.

Law 4. Nothing is given for free. In other words, you have to pay for everything. In essence, this is the second law of thermodynamics, which speaks of the presence of fundamental asymmetry in nature, that is, the unidirectionality of all spontaneous processes occurring in it. When thermodynamic systems interact with the environment, there are only two ways to transfer energy: heat release and work. The law says that in order to increase their internal energy, natural systems create the most favorable conditions - they do not take "duties". All the work done without any losses can pass into heat and replenish the reserves of the internal energy of the system. But, if we do the opposite, that is, we want to perform work at the expense of the reserves of the internal energy of the system, that is, to do the work through heat, we must pay. All the warmth cannot be turned into work. Every heat engine (technical device or natural mechanism) has a refrigerator, which, like a tax inspector, collects a duty. Thus, the law states that you can't live for free. Even the most general analysis of this truth shows that we live in debt, because we pay less than the real value of the goods. But, as you know, the growth of debt leads to bankruptcy.

The concept of law is interpreted by most methodologists in the sense of an unambiguous causal relationship. Cybernetics gives a broader interpretation of the concept of law as a limitation of diversity, and it is more suitable for social ecology, which reveals the fundamental limitations of human activity. It would be absurd to put forward as a gravitational imperative that a person should not jump from a great height, since death in this case is inevitable. But the adaptive capabilities of the biosphere, which make it possible to compensate for violations of ecological laws before reaching a certain threshold, make ecological imperatives necessary. The main one can be formulated as follows: the transformation of nature must correspond to its possibilities of adaptation.

One of the ways to formulate socio-ecological laws is to transfer them from sociology and ecology. For example, the law of conformity of productive forces and production relations to the state of the natural environment is proposed as the basic law of social ecology, which is a modification of one of the laws of political economy. The patterns of social ecology, proposed based on the study of ecosystems, we will consider after getting acquainted with ecology.

Formation of social ecology as a science

In order to better represent the subject of social ecology, one should consider the process of its emergence and formation as an independent branch of scientific knowledge. In fact, the emergence and subsequent development of social ecology was a natural consequence of the ever-increasing interest of representatives of various humanitarian disciplines - sociology, economics, political science, psychology, etc., - to the problems of human interaction with the environment.

Temin "social ecology" owes its appearance to American researchers, representatives of the Chicago School of Social Psychologists ¾ R. Park and E. Burgess, who first used it in their work on the theory of population behavior in an urban environment in 1921. The authors used it as a synonym for the concept of “human ecology”. The concept of "social ecology" was intended to emphasize that in this context we are talking not about a biological, but about a social phenomenon, which, incidentally, also has biological characteristics.

In our country, by the end of the 70s, conditions also developed for the separation of socio-ecological problems into an independent direction of interdisciplinary research. A significant contribution to the development of domestic social ecology was made by , and etc.

and broadly - the science "of the interaction of an individual and human society with the natural, social and cultural environment." It is quite obvious that in each of the presented cases of interpretation we are talking about different sciences, claiming the right to be called "social ecology". No less indicative is the comparison between the definitions of social ecology and human ecology. According to the same source, the latter is defined as: “1) the science of the interaction of human society with nature; 2) the ecology of the human person; 3) the ecology of human populations, including the doctrine of ethnic groups. " The almost complete identity of the definition of social ecology, understood "in the narrow sense", and the first version of the interpretation of human ecology is clearly visible. The striving for the actual identification of these two branches of scientific knowledge, indeed, is still characteristic of foreign science, but it is quite often subjected to well-reasoned criticism by domestic scientists. , in particular, pointing out the advisability of breeding social ecology and human ecology, limits the subject to the latter consideration of the socio-hygienic and medico-genetic aspects of the relationship between man, society and nature. Some other researchers agree with such an interpretation of the subject of human ecology, but they strongly disagree, and, in their opinion, this discipline covers a much wider range of issues of interaction of the anthroposystem (considered at all levels of its organization, from the individual to humanity as a whole) with biosphere, as well as with the internal biosocial organization of human society. It is easy to see that such an interpretation of the subject of human ecology actually equates it with social ecology, understood in a broad sense. This situation is largely due to the fact that at present there has been a steady tendency for these two disciplines to converge, when there is an interpenetration of the subjects of the two sciences and their mutual enrichment due to the joint use of the empirical material accumulated in each of them, as well as methods and technologies of socio-ecological and anthropoecological research.

Today, an increasing number of researchers are inclined towards an expanded interpretation of the subject of social ecology. So, in his opinion, the subject of study of modern social ecology, understood by him as a private sociology, are specific connections between man and his environment. Based on this, the main tasks of social ecology can be defined as follows: the study of the influence of the habitat as a combination of natural and social factors on humans, as well as the influence of humans on the environment, perceived as the framework of human life.

A somewhat different, but not contradicting the previous, interpretation of the subject of social ecology is given by and. From their point of view, social ecology as a part of human ecology is a complex of scientific fields that study the connection of social structures (starting with the family and other small social groups), as well as the connection of a person with the natural and social environment of their habitat. This approach seems to us to be more correct, because it does not limit the subject of social ecology to the framework of sociology or any other separate humanitarian discipline, but especially emphasizes its interdisciplinary nature.

When defining the subject of social ecology, some researchers tend to emphasize the role that this young science is called upon to play in harmonizing the relationship of mankind with its environment. In his opinion, social ecology should study, first of all, the laws of society and nature, by which he understands the laws of self-regulation of the biosphere, implemented by man in his life.

The history of the emergence and development of human ecological concepts is rooted in deep antiquity. Knowledge about the environment and the nature of relationships with it acquired practical importance at the dawn of the development of the human species.

The process of the formation of the labor and social organization of primitive people, the development of their mental and collective activity created the basis for realizing not only the very fact of their existence, but also for an increasing understanding of the dependence of this existence both on conditions within their social organization and on external natural conditions. The experience of our distant ancestors was constantly enriched and passed on from generation to generation, helping a person in his daily struggle for life.

About 750 thousand years ago people themselves learned how to make a fire, equip primitive dwellings, mastered methods of protection from bad weather and enemies. Thanks to this knowledge, man was able to significantly expand the areas of his dwelling.

Beginning with 8th millennium BC NS. in Asia Minor, various methods of cultivating land and growing crops are beginning to be practiced. In the countries of Central Europe, this kind of agrarian revolution took place in 6 ¾ 2nd millennium BC NS. As a result, a large number of people switched to a sedentary lifestyle, in which there was an urgent need for deeper observations of the climate, in the ability to predict the change of seasons and changes in the weather. The discovery by people of the dependence of weather phenomena on astronomical cycles dates back to the same time.

Of particular interest are the thinkers of Ancient Greece and Rome showed to the issues of the origin and development of life on Earth, as well as to the identification of connections between objects and phenomena of the surrounding world. So, the ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician and astronomer Anaxagoras (500¾428 BC NS.) put forward one of the first theories of the origin of the world known at that time and the living beings inhabiting it.

Ancient Greek philosopher and physician Empedocles (about 487¾ approx. 424 BC BC NS.) he paid more attention to the description of the very process of the emergence and subsequent development of earthly life.

Aristotle (384 ¾322 BC NS.) created the first known classification of animals, and also laid the foundations for descriptive and comparative anatomy. Defending the idea of the unity of nature, he argued that all the more perfect species of animals and plants descended from less perfect ones, and those, in turn, trace their ancestry from the most primitive organisms that once arose through spontaneous generation. The complication of organisms Aristotle considered a consequence of their inner striving for self-improvement.

One of the main problems that occupied the minds of ancient thinkers was the problem of the relationship between nature and man. The study of various aspects of their interaction was the subject of scientific interests of the ancient Greek researchers Herodotus, Hippocrates, Plato, Eratosthenes, etc.

Peruvian German philosopher and theologian Albert Bolshtedtsky (Albert the Great)(1206¾1280) owns several natural science treatises. The works "On Alchemy" and "On Metals and Minerals" contain statements about the dependence of the climate on the geographical latitude of a place and its position above sea level, as well as the connection between the inclination of the sun's rays and the heating of the soil.

English philosopher and naturalist Roger Bacon(1214¾1294) argued that all organic bodies represent, in their composition, various combinations of the same elements and liquids, of which inorganic bodies are composed.

The onset of the Renaissance is inextricably linked with the name of the famous Italian painter, sculptor, architect, scientist and engineer Leonardo yes Vinci(1452¾1519). He considered the main task of science to establish the laws of natural phenomena, proceeding from the principle of their causal, necessary connection.

Late 15th ¾ early 16th century rightfully bears the name of the era of the great geographical discoveries. In 1492 an Italian navigator Christopher Columbus discovered America. In 1498 a Portuguese Vasco da Gama skirted Africa and reached India by sea. In 1516 (17?), Portuguese travelers first reached China by sea. And in 1521 the Spanish navigators led by Fernand Magellan made the first trip around the world. Having rounded South America, they reached East Asia, after which they returned to Spain. These travels were an important stage in the expansion of knowledge about the Earth.

Giordano Bruno(1548¾1600) made a significant contribution to the development of the teachings of Copernicus, as well as to free him from shortcomings and limitations.

The onset of a fundamentally new stage in the development of science is traditionally associated with the name of the philosopher and the logician Francis Bacon(1561¾1626), who developed inductive and experimental methods of scientific research. He proclaimed the main goal of science to increase the power of man over nature.

At the end of the XVI century. Dutch inventor Zachary Jansen(lived in the 16th century) created the first microscope that allows you to obtain images of small objects, magnified with glass lenses. English naturalist Robert Hooke(1635¾1703) significantly improved the microscope (its device gave a 40-fold increase), with which for the first time he observed plant cells, and also studied the structure of some minerals.

French naturalist Georges Buffon(1707¾1788), the author of the 36-volume Natural History, expressed his thoughts about the unity of the animal and plant world, about their vital activity, distribution and connection with the habitat, defended the idea of the changeability of species under the influence of environmental conditions.

A major event in the 18th century. was the emergence of the evolutionary concept of the French naturalist Jean Baptiste Lamarck(1744¾1829), according to which the main reason for the development of organisms from lower to higher forms is the inherent tendency of living nature to improve the organization, as well as the influence of various external conditions on them.

The works of the English naturalist played a special role in the development of ecology. Charles Darwin(1809¾1882), who created a theory of the origin of species by natural selection.

In 1866 the German evolutionary zoologist Ernst Haeckel(1834¾1919) in his work "General morphology of organisms" proposed to call the whole range of issues related to the problem of the struggle for existence and the influence on living things of a complex of physical and biotic conditions by the term "ecology".

Human evolution and ecology

Long before the individual directions of ecological research became independent, there was an obvious tendency towards a gradual enlargement of the objects of ecological study. If initially single individuals, their groups, specific biological species, etc. acted as such, then over time they began to be supplemented by large natural complexes, such as "biocenosis", the concept of which was formulated by a German zoologist and hydrobiologist

K. Moebius back in 1877 (the new term was intended to denote the totality of plants, animals and microorganisms inhabiting a relatively homogeneous living space). Shortly before this, in 1875, the Austrian geologist E. Suess to designate the "film of life" on the surface of the Earth, he proposed the concept of "biosphere". This concept was significantly expanded and concretized by a Russian, Soviet scientist in his book "Biosphere", which was published in 1926. In 1935, an English botanist A. Tensley introduced the concept of "ecological system" (ecosystem). And in 1940, the Soviet botanist and geographer introduced the term "biogeocenosis", which he proposed to designate an elementary unit of the biosphere. Naturally, the study of such large-scale complex formations required combining the research efforts of representatives of different "special" ecology, which, in turn, would be practically impossible without agreeing on their scientific categorical apparatus, as well as without developing common approaches to organizing the research process itself. Actually, it is precisely this need that ecology owes its appearance as a unified science, integrating in itself the particular subject ecologies that developed earlier relatively independently of each other. The result of their reunification was the formation of a "big ecology" (in the expression) or "macroecology" (according to and), which today includes the following main sections in its structure:

General ecology;

Human ecology (including social ecology);

Applied ecology.

The structure of each of the named sections and the range of problems considered in each of them are shown in Fig. 1. It illustrates well the fact that modern ecology is a complex science that solves an extremely wide range of problems that are extremely relevant at the present stage of the development of society. According to the capacious definition of one of the largest modern ecologists Eugene Odum, "ecology¾ it is an interdisciplinary field of knowledge, the science of the arrangement of multilevel systems in nature, society, their interconnection. "

The place of social ecology in the system of sciences

Social ecology is a new scientific direction at the intersection of sociology, ecology, philosophy, science, technology and other branches of culture, with each of which it comes into close contact. This can be schematically expressed as follows:

Many new names of sciences have been proposed, the subject of which is the study of the relationship between man and the natural environment in their entirety: natursociology, noology, noogenics, global ecology, social ecology, human ecology, socio-economic ecology, modern ecology. Greater ecology, etc. At the present time, more or less confidently we can talk about three directions.

First, we are talking about the study of the relationship of society with the natural environment at the global level, on the scale of the planet, in other words, about the relationship of mankind as a whole with the biosphere of the Earth. The specific scientific basis of research in this area is the doctrine of Vernadsky about the biosphere. This direction can be called global ecology. In 1977 the monograph "Global Ecology" was published. It should be noted that, in accordance with his scientific interests, Budyko paid primary attention to the climatic aspects of the global environmental problem, although such topics as the amount of resources of our planet, global indicators of environmental pollution, global circulation of chemical elements in their interaction, the impact of space on The Earth, the state of the ozone shield in the atmosphere, the functioning of the Earth as a whole, etc. Research in this direction, of course, presupposes intensive international cooperation.

The second direction of research on the relationship of society with the natural environment will be research from the point of view of understanding a person as a social being. Human attitudes to the social and natural environment are correlated with each other. "The limited relationship of people to nature determines their limited relationship to each other" and their limited relationship to each other - their limited relationship to nature "(K. Marx, F. Engels. Soch., 2nd ed., Vol. 3, In order to separate this direction, which studies the attitude of various social groups and classes to the natural environment and the structure of their relationships, determined by their relationship to the natural environment, from the subject of global ecology, we can call it social ecology in the narrow sense. In this case, social ecology, in contrast to global ecology, turns out to be closer to the humanities than to the natural sciences.The need for such studies is enormous, and they are carried out on a very limited scale.

Finally, the third scientific direction can be considered human ecology. Its subject, which does not coincide with the subjects of global ecology and social ecology in the narrow sense, would be the system of relationships with the natural environment of a person as an individual. This direction is closer to medicine than social and global ecology. By definition, "human ecology is a scientific direction that studies the patterns of interaction, the problems of purposeful management of the preservation and development of public health, the improvement of the species Homo sapiens. The task of human ecology is to develop forecasts of possible changes in the characteristics of human health (population) under the influence of changes in the external environment and development of scientifically based standards of correction in the corresponding components of life support systems ... Most Western authors also distinguish between the concepts of social or human ecology (ecology of human society) and ecology of man (human ecology). the process of "entry" of the natural environment into interrelation with society as a dependent and controlled subsystem within the system "nature - society." ogic unit "(Questions of socioecology. Lvov, 1987. p. 32-33).

"Human ecology includes genetic-anatomical-physiological and medical-biological blocks that are absent in social ecology. The latter, according to historical traditions, must include significant sections of sociology and social psychology that are not part of the narrow understanding of human ecology" . 195).

Of course, the three scientific directions noted are far from enough. The approach to the natural environment as a whole, which is necessary for the successful solution of an ecological problem, presupposes a synthesis of knowledge, which is seen in the formation of directions in various existing sciences that are transitioning from them to ecology.

Environmental issues are increasingly included in the social sciences. The development of social ecology is closely related to the trends of sociologization and humanization of science (natural science, in the first place), just as the integration of rapidly differentiating disciplines of the ecological cycle with each other and with other sciences is taking place in line with general trends towards synthesis in the development of modern science.

Practice has a twofold effect on the scientific understanding of environmental problems. The point here, on the one hand, is that transformative activity requires an increase in the theoretical level of research of the "man - natural environment" system and an increase in the predictive power of these studies. On the other hand, it is the practical activity of man that provides direct assistance to scientific research. Cognition of causal relationships in nature can advance as it transforms. The larger projects for the reconstruction of the natural environment are carried out, the more data penetrates into the sciences of the natural environment, the more deeply causal relationships in the natural environment can be identified, and the higher, ultimately, the theoretical level of research into the relationship of society with the natural environment becomes.

The theoretical potential of the sciences studying the natural environment has grown noticeably in recent years, which leads to the fact that “now all earth sciences, in one way or another, are moving from descriptions and the simplest qualitative analysis
observational materials for the development of quantitative theories, built on a physical and mathematical basis "(E. K. Fedorov. Interaction between society and nature. Leningrad, 1972, p. 63).

First, descriptive science - geography - on the basis of establishing closer contact between its individual branches (climatology, geomorphology, soil science, etc.) and improving its methodological arsenal (mathematization, the use of the methodology of physical and chemical sciences, etc.) becomes constructive geography, focused not only and not so much on the study of the functioning of the geographic environment independently of a person, but on the theoretical understanding of the prospects for transforming our planet. Similar changes are taking place in other sciences that study certain moments, aspects, etc., of the relationship between man and the natural environment.

Since social ecology is a new emerging discipline that is in the process of rapid development, its subject can only be outlined, but not clearly defined. This is typical for every emerging field of knowledge, social ecology is no exception. We will understand by social ecology a scientific direction that unites what is included in social ecology in the narrow sense, in global ecology and in human ecology. In other words, we will understand social ecology as a scientific discipline that studies the relationship between man and nature in their complex. This will be a subject of social ecology, although it may not be definitively established.

Social ecology methods

A more complex situation takes place with the definition of the method of social ecology. Since social ecology is a transitional science between the natural and the humanities, in its methodology it must use the methods of both the natural and the humanities, as well as those methodologies that represent the unity of the natural scientific and humanitarian approaches (the first is called pomological, the second is ideographic).

As for general scientific methods, familiarization with the history of social ecology shows that at the first stage, the method of observation (monitoring) was mainly used, in the second, the modeling method came to the fore. Modeling is a way of long-term and complex vision of the world. In its modern understanding, this is a universal procedure for comprehending and transforming the world. Generally speaking, each person builds certain models of reality on the basis of his life experience and knowledge. Subsequent experience and knowledge confirm this model or contribute to its modification and refinement. A model is simply an ordered set of assumptions about a complex system. It is an attempt to understand some complex aspect of an infinitely diverse world by choosing from accumulated ideas and experience a set of observations applicable to the problem at hand.

The authors of The Limits to Growth describe the global modeling methodology as follows. We first compiled a list of important causal relationships between variables and outlined the feedback structure. We then read the literature and consulted with experts in many of the areas related to this research - demographers, economists, agronomists, nutritionists, geologists, ecologists, etc. Our goal at this stage was to find the most common a structure that reflects the main relationships between the five levels. Further development of this basic structure on the basis of other more detailed data can be carried out after the system itself is understood in its elementary form. We then quantified each relationship as accurately as possible, using global data, if any, and representative local data, if no global measurements were made. With the help of a computer, we have determined the dependence of the simultaneous action of all these connections in time. We then tested the impact of quantitative changes in our underlying assumptions to find the most critical determinants of system behavior. There is no one "hard" world model. The model, as soon as it emerges, is constantly criticized and updated with data as we begin to better understand it. This model uses the most important relationships between population, food, investment, depreciation, resources, and output. These dependencies are the same all over the world. Our technique is to make several assumptions about the relationships between the parameters, and then check them on a computer. The model contains dynamic statements only about the physical aspects of human activity. It proceeds from the assumption that the nature of social variables - income distribution, regulation of family size, choice between manufactured goods, services and food - in the future will remain the same as it was during the modern history of world development. Since it is difficult to guess what new forms of human behavior should be expected, we did not try to take these changes into account in the model. The value of our model is determined only by that point on each of the graphs, which corresponds to the cessation of growth and the beginning of the catastrophe.

Within the framework of the general method of global modeling, various particular techniques were used. For example, Meadows's group applied the principles of system dynamics, which assume that the state of systems is fully described by a small set of quantities characterizing different levels of consideration, and its evolution in time - by differential equations of the 1st order containing the rates of change of these quantities, called flows, which depend only from time and the level values themselves, but not from the rate of their changes. System dynamics deals only with exponential growth and equilibrium.

The methodological potential of the theory of hierarchical systems applied by Mesarovich and Pestel is much broader, allowing the creation of multilevel models. The "input-output" method, developed and used in global modeling by B. Leontiev, involves the study of structural relationships in the economy in conditions when "a multitude of seemingly unrelated, in reality interdependent flows of production, distribution, consumption and investment constantly influence each other. , and, ultimately, are determined by a number of basic characteristics of the system "(V. Leontiev. Studies of the structure of the American economy.

The input-output method represents reality in the form of a checkerboard (matrix), reflecting the structure of intersectoral flows, the field of production, exchange and consumption. The method itself is already a certain idea of reality, and, thus, the chosen methodology turns out to be in the most essential way connected with the content aspect.

A real system can also be used as a model. So, agrocenoses can be considered as an experimental model of biocenosis. More generally, all nature-transforming human activity is modeling, which accelerates the formation of a theory, but it should be treated as a model, taking into account the risk that this activity entails. In the transformative aspect, modeling contributes to optimization, i.e., the choice of the best ways to transform the natural environment /

“The childhood of mankind is over, when Mother Nature went and cleaned after us. The period of maturity has come. Now we need to clean up ourselves, or rather learn to live so as not to litter. From now on, the entire responsibility for the preservation of life on Earth falls on us ”(Oldak, 1979).

Currently, humanity is experiencing perhaps the most critical moment in the entire history of its existence. Modern society is in a deep crisis, although this cannot be said, if we limit ourselves to some external manifestations. We see that the economies of developed countries continue to grow, even if not at such a rapid pace as it was quite recently. Accordingly, the volume of mining continues to increase, which is stimulated by the growth of consumer demand. This is most noticeable, again, in developed countries. At the same time, social contrasts in the modern world between economically developed and developing countries are becoming more pronounced and in some cases reach a 60-fold gap in the size of the incomes of the population of these countries.

Rapid industrialization and urbanization, a sharp increase in the world's population, intensive chemicalization of agriculture, and other types of anthropogenic pressure on nature have significantly disrupted the circulation of substances and natural energy processes in the biosphere, damaged the mechanisms of its self-recovery. This endangered the health and life of modern and future generations of people and, in general, the further existence of civilization.

Analyzing the current situation, many experts come to the conclusion that currently two mortal dangers threaten humanity:

1) a relatively fast death in the fire of a global nuclear missile war and

2) slow extinction due to deterioration in the quality of the living environment, which is caused by the destruction of the biosphere due to irrational economic activities.

The second danger, apparently, is more real and more formidable, since diplomatic efforts alone are not enough to prevent it. It is necessary to revise all the traditional principles of nature management and radically restructure the entire economic mechanism in most countries of the world.

Therefore, speaking about the current situation, everyone should understand that the current crisis has engulfed not only the economy and nature. First of all, the person himself is in crisis with his centuries-old way of thinking, needs, habits, way of life and behavior. The crisis of a person is that his whole way of life is opposed to nature. It is possible to get out of this crisis only if a person is transformed into a being who is friendly with nature, understands it and knows how to be in harmony with it. But for this, people must learn to live in harmony with each other and take care of future generations. All this should be learned by every person, wherever he has to work and whatever tasks he has to solve.

So, in the conditions of the progressive destruction of the Earth's biosphere, in order to resolve the contradictions between society and nature, it is necessary to transform human activity on new principles. These principles provide for the achievement of a reasonable compromise between the social and economic needs of society and the ability of the biosphere to satisfy them without jeopardizing its normal functioning. Thus, the time has come for a critical revision of all areas of human activity, as well as areas of knowledge and spiritual culture that shape a person's worldview.

Humanity is now taking an exam for true intelligence. It will be able to pass this exam only if it fulfills the requirements set by the biosphere. These requirements are:

1) biosphere compatibility based on knowledge and use of the laws of conservation of the biosphere;

2) moderation in the consumption of natural resources, overcoming the wastefulness of the consumer structure of society;

3) mutual tolerance and peacefulness of the peoples of the planet in relations with each other;

4) adherence to universally significant, environmentally thought-out and consciously set global goals of social development.

All these requirements imply the movement of humanity towards a single global integrity based on the joint formation and maintenance of a new planetary shell, which Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky called the noosphere.

The scientific basis for such activities should be a new branch of knowledge - social ecology.

Fortunately, there are now quite a few textbooks and teaching aids on both general ecology and social ecology, and they all deserve to be studied diligently (Akimova, Haskin, 1998; Baklanov, 2001; Voronkov, 1999; Girusov , 1998; Gorelov, 2000; Dorst, 1968; Results and prospects ..., 1986; Kartashev, 1998; Kotlyakov, 1997; Krasilov, 1992; Lee, 1995; Losev, Provadkin, 1998; Malofeev, 2002; Minakova, 2000; Our future ..., 1989; Natural resource potential ..., 1998; Nature management ..., 1997; Rakhilin, 1989; Reimers, 1994; Romanov et al., 2001; Saint-Mark, 1977; Sitarov, Pustovoitov, 2000; Sokolov et al., 1997 ; Urusov, 2000; Urusov et al., 2002; Khristoforova, 1999; Evolution ..., 1999; Ecological essays ..., 1988, etc.). At the same time, it seems important to reflect the existing social and environmental problems in the light of regional characteristics, traditions and development prospects. In this regard, in this textbook, much attention is paid to factual material reflecting the modern socio-ecological problems of the Russian Far East.

At present, active scientific discussions are underway on many aspects of the current ecological situation, and on a number of issues unified views on the problem and ways of solving it have not yet been developed. In describing such problems, we tried to bring different points of view. The future will show who is right. Our main goal was to show students that social ecology is not an abstract academic scientific discipline, but a vast area of interaction of various ideologies, cultures, lifestyles; it is not only a global area of expertise, but also a vital field of action. To show the necessity, attractiveness and prospects of this activity was one of the tasks of the authors of this textbook.

The subject of social ecology, environmental problems, ecological world view

Social ecology is the science of harmonizing the interactions between society and nature. The subject of social ecology is the noosphere, that is, the system of socio-natural relations, which is formed and functions as a result of a person's conscious activity. In other words, the subject of social ecology is the formation and functioning of the noosphere.

The problems associated with the interaction of society and its environment are called environmental problems. Ecology was originally a branch of biology (the term was coined by Ernst Haeckel in 1866). Environmental biologists study the relationship of animals, plants and entire communities with their habitat. An ecological view of the world is such a ranking of the values and priorities of human activity when the most important thing is to preserve a human-friendly environment.

For social ecology, the term "ecology" means a special point of view, a special worldview, a special system of values and priorities of human activity, focused on harmonizing the relationship between society and nature. In other sciences, "ecology" means something different: in biology - a section of biological research on the relationship between organisms and the environment, in philosophy - the most general patterns of interaction between man, society and the Universe, in geography - the structure and functioning of natural complexes and natural-economic systems. Social ecology is also called human ecology or modern ecology. In recent years, the scientific direction, called "globalistics", has begun to actively develop, developing models of a controlled, scientifically and spiritually organized world with the aim of preserving earthly civilization.

The prehistory of social ecology begins with the appearance of man on Earth. The herald of the new science is considered the English theologian Thomas Malthus. He was one of the first to point out that there are natural boundaries of economic growth, and demanded to limit the growth of the population: food "(Malthus, 1868, p. 96); "... to improve the situation of the poor, it is necessary to reduce the relative number of births" (Malthus, 1868, p. 378). This idea is not new. In Plato's "ideal republic" the number of families must be regulated by the government. Aristotle went further and proposed to determine the number of children for each family.

Another predecessor of social ecology is the school of geography in sociology: the adherents of this scientific school pointed out that the mental characteristics of people, their way of life are directly dependent on the natural conditions of a given area. Let us remember that even C. Montesquieu argued that "the power of the climate is the world's first power." Our compatriot L.I. Mechnikov pointed out that world civilizations developed in the basins of great rivers, on the shores of seas and oceans. K. Marx believed that a temperate climate is most suitable for the development of capitalism. K. Marx and F. Engels developed the concept of the unity of man and nature, the main idea of which was: to cognize the laws of nature and to apply them correctly.

Social ecology was officially recognized at the state level in the first quarter of the 20th century. In 1922 H. Burroughs turned to the American Association of Geographers with a presidential address called Geography as Human Ecology. The main idea of this appeal: to bring ecology closer to man. The Chicago School of Human Ecology has gained worldwide fame: the study of the mutual relations of a person as an integral organism with its integral environment. It was then that ecology and sociology first came into close interaction. Environmental techniques began to be used to analyze the social system.

Worldwide recognition and the first stages of development of social ecology

The worldwide recognition of social ecology as an independent science dates back to the 60s of the twentieth century. One of the most striking events of those years was the publication in 1962 of R. Carson's book "Silent Spring" about the environmental consequences of the use of the pesticide DDT. The Swiss chemist Müller synthesized DDT and in 1947 received the Nobel Prize for this. Later it turned out that DDT accumulates in living tissues and has a detrimental effect on all living things, including the human body. Through air and water transport, this substance has spread throughout the planet and is even found in the liver of the penguins of Antarctica.

Like any other scientific discipline, social ecology has evolved gradually. There are three main stages in the development of this science.

The initial stage is empirical, associated with the accumulation of various data on the negative environmental consequences of the scientific and technological revolution. The result of this direction of environmental research was the formation of a network of global environmental monitoring of all components of the biosphere.

The second stage is "model". In 1972 a book by D. Meadows et al. "The Limits to Growth" was published. She was a huge success. For the first time, data on different aspects of human activity were included in a mathematical model and investigated using a computer. For the first time at the global level, a complex dynamic model of interaction between society and nature was investigated.

The criticism of The Limits to Growth was comprehensive and thorough. The results of criticism can be summarized in two positions:

1) computer modeling of socio-economic systems at the global and regional levels is promising;

2) Meadows's "models of the world" are still far from adequate to reality.

Currently, there is a significant variety of global models: Meadows's model - lace from loops of forward and backward links, Mesarovich and Pestel's model is a pyramid dissected into many relatively independent parts, J. Tinbergen's model is a "tree" of organic growth, V. Leontiev's model - also a "tree".

The beginning of the third - global-political - stage of social ecology is considered to be 1992, when the International Conference on Environment and Development was held in Rio de Janeiro. The heads of 179 states adopted an agreed strategy based on the concept of sustainable development.

The main directions of development of social ecology

To date, there are three main directions in social ecology.

The first direction is the study of the relationship of society with the natural environment at the global level - global ecology. The scientific foundations of this direction were laid by V.I. Vernadsky in his fundamental work "Biosphere", published in 1928. In 1977, M.I. Budyko "Global Ecology", but it mainly deals with climatic aspects. Topics such as resources, global pollution, global cycles of chemical elements, the influence of the Cosmos, the functioning of the Earth as a whole, etc. have not received adequate coverage.

The second direction is the study of the relationship with the natural environment of various groups of the population and society as a whole from the point of view of understanding a person as a social being. Human relations to the social and natural environment are interrelated. K. Marx and F. Engels pointed out that the limited relationship of people to nature determines their limited relationship to each other, and their limited relationship to each other - their limited relationship to nature. This is social ecology in the narrow sense of the word.

The third area is human ecology. Its subject is a system of relationships with the natural environment of man as a biological being. The main problem is the purposeful management of the preservation and development of human health, the population, the improvement of Man as a biological species. Here and forecasts of changes in health under the influence of changes in the environment, and the development of standards in life support systems.

Western researchers also distinguish between the ecology of human society - social ecology and human ecology (human ecology). Social ecology considers the impact on society as a dependent and controlled subsystem of the "nature - society" system. Human ecology - focuses on the person himself as a biological unit.

Nature is studied by natural sciences, such as biology, chemistry, physics, geology, etc., using the natural science (nomological) approach. Society studies the humanities - sociology, demography, ethics, economics, etc. - and uses a humanitarian (ideographic) approach. Social ecology as an interdisciplinary science is based on three types of methods: 1) natural sciences, 2) humanities, and 3) systems research, combining natural science and humanities research.

The methodology of global modeling occupies an important place in the methodology of social ecology.

The main stages of global modeling are as follows:

1) a list of causal relationships between variables is drawn up and the structure of feedbacks is outlined;

2) after studying the literature and consulting specialists-demographers, economists, ecologists, geologists, etc., a general structure is revealed that reflects the main connections between the levels.

After the global model in general has been created, work with this model is to be carried out, which includes the following stages: 1) quantitative assessment of each connection - global data are used, and if there is no global data, then characteristic local data are used; 2) with the help of a computer, the effect of the simultaneous action of all these connections in time is determined; 3) the number of changes in basic assumptions is checked to find the most critical determinants of the system's behavior.

The global model uses the most important relationships between population, food, investment, resources and output. The model contains dynamic statements about the physical aspects of human activity. It contains the assumptions that the nature of social variables (income distribution, regulation of family size, etc.) will not change.

The main task is to understand the system in its elementary form. Only then can the model be improved on the basis of other, more detailed data. The model, once it emerges, is usually constantly criticized and updated with data.

The value of the global model is that it allows you to show a point on the chart where growth is expected to stop and the beginning of a global catastrophe is most likely. To date, various particular techniques of the global modeling method have been developed. For example, the Meadows group uses the principle of system dynamics. The peculiarity of this technique is that: 1) the state of the system is fully described by a small set of values; 2) the evolution of the system in time is described by differential equations of the 1st order. It should be borne in mind that system dynamics deals only with exponential growth and equilibrium.

The methodological potential of the theory of hierarchical systems applied by Mesarovich and Pestel is much broader than that of the Meadows group. It becomes possible to create multilevel systems.

The input-output method of Vasily Leontiev is a matrix that reflects the structure of inter-industry flows, production, exchange and consumption. Leont'ev himself investigated the structural relationships in the economy under conditions when "a multitude of seemingly unrelated interdependent flows of production, distribution, consumption and investment constantly influence each other and, ultimately, are determined by a number of basic characteristics of the system" (Leontyev, 1958 , p. 8).

A real system can be used as a model. For example, agrocenosis is an experimental model of biocenosis.

All nature transformation activities are modeling, which accelerates the formation of a theory. Since the organization of production must take into account the risk, modeling allows you to calculate the likelihood and severity of risk. In this way, simulation contributes to optimization, i.e. choosing the best ways to transform the natural environment.

The goal of social ecology is to create a theory of the evolution of the relationship between man and nature, the logic and methodology of transforming the natural environment.

Social ecology reveals the laws of the relationship between nature and society, it is designed to understand and help bridge the gap between humanitarian and natural science knowledge.

The laws of social ecology are as fundamental as the laws of physics. However, the subject of social ecology is very complex: three qualitatively different subsystems - inanimate nature, wildlife, human society. At present, social ecology is predominantly an empirical science, and its laws often look like extremely general aphoristic statements (Commoner's "laws" *).

The concept of law is interpreted by most methodologists in the sense of an unambiguous causal relationship. In cybernetics, a broader interpretation is adopted: the law is a limitation of diversity. It is this interpretation that is more suitable for social ecology.

Social ecology reveals the fundamental limitations of human activity. The adaptive possibilities of the biosphere are not endless. Hence the "ecological imperative": human activity should in no case exceed the adaptive capabilities of the biosphere.

The law of conformity of productive forces and production relations with the state of the natural environment is recognized as the basic law of social ecology.