Does Gender Matter?: An Empirical Analysis of the Social Construction of Ecological Metaphon

Abstract

<p>This thesis investigates the interpretive capacities of the theory of social constructionism as explained by Berger and Luckmann and Alfred Schutz, and the theory of environmental aestheticism proposed by Arnold Berleant, by empirically examining the general, intrinsic, and instrumental values ofa selected sample of Hamilton Harbour watershed residents. We use ecofeminist theory to propose that gender, as a social construct, affects the formation of ecological metaphors. Our primary intention was to determine whether or not men and women valued the environment in different ways. Despite bivariate and multivariate analysis, we found neither sex to have stronger environmental values than the other. However, we found that an increase in education was associated with a pro-environmental ethic. In a further analysis, we found that men are not strongly affected by household income, education, parental status, or residential location, in their constructions of general, intrinsic or instrumental values. For women, an increase in education is strongly associated with the social construction of proecological metaphors. A central factor in the construction of environmental values appears to be level of formal education. This emerges as an interesting finding which clearly points to ways in which we can promote the emergence of a community wide appreciation of the environment, therefore leading to its conservation and restoration.</p>