Endogenizing culture in sustainability science research and policy

Caldas, Marcellus M.; Sanderson, Matthew R.; Mather, Martha E.; Daniels, Melinda D.; Bergtold, Jason S.; Aistrup, Joseph A.; Stamm, Jessica L. Heier; Haukos, David A.; Douglas-Mankin, Kyle R.; Sheshukov, Aleksey Y.; López‐Carr, David

doi:10.1073/pnas.1510010112

Cited by 69 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The endogenous treatment of values and norms by these studies have implicitly followed the general logic of elements of the VBN theory presented above, even if this was originally unintended (see the feedback from actions to beliefs in Fig. 2) and have therefore responded to the challenges of incorporating feedbacks from water use behavior to beliefs and water management norms, consistent with the notion of endogenous and dynamic culture (Caldas et al, 2015). It should be noted that these variables include values, beliefs, and norms together (Fig.…”

Section: Validation Of Modeled Changing Values and Normsmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…The VBN framework is capable of being incorporated into SH models for the purposes of modeling dynamic feedbacks within the human component of the system or between the human and environmental components of the system (Caldas et al, 2015). Incorporating VBN into SH models requires the questions raised above to be addressed in greater detail, among others, but especially the question of where the feedbacks among values, beliefs, norms, and behavior occur in the process of management and the competitive use of water resources.…”

Section: Values Beliefs and Norms: Vbn Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such understanding will remain incomplete until we fully grapple with issues arising from human culture, including how components of culture, i.e., values, beliefs, and norms related to water uses, livelihood, and the environment (Sivapalan and Blöschl, 2015). It is increasingly recognized that cultural factors are likely to influence changes in water management decisions and outcomes (Caldas et al, 2015), raising questions about what have become "conventional" assumptions about humans as rational utility maximizers who make decisions based upon complete information. Although economic models of altruism and impure altruism (i.e., "warm glow" effect: caring about others or the next generation not just out of altruism but because they get pleasure out of it themselves) have been successful in predicting the effect of prevailing values and norms on human behavior and actions (Andreoni, 1989;Banerjee and Newman, 1993), they remain limited in accounting for the consequences of the human actions on societal values and norms in return.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Norms and values in sociohydrological models

Roobavannan

Emmerik

Elshafei

et al. 2018

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Sustainable water resources management relies on understanding how societies and water systems coevolve. Many place-based sociohydrology (SH) modeling studies use proxies, such as environmental degradation, to capture key elements of the social component of system dynamics. Parameters of assumed relationships between environmental degradation and the human response to it are usually obtained through calibration. Since these relationships are not yet underpinned by social-science theories, confidence in the predictive power of such place-based sociohydrologic models remains low. The generalizability of SH models therefore requires major advances in incorporating more realistic relationships, underpinned by appropriate hydrological and social-science data and theories. The latter is a critical input, since human culture -especially values and norms arising from it -influences behavior and the consequences of behaviors. This paper reviews a key social-science theory that links cultural factors to environmental decision-making, assesses how to better incorporate social-science insights to enhance SH models, and raises important questions to be addressed in moving forward. This is done in the context of recent progress in sociohydrological studies and the gaps that remain to be filled. The paper concludes with a discussion of challenges and opportunities in terms of generalization of SH models and the use of available data to allow future prediction and model transfer to ungauged basins.

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Section: Validation Of Modeled Changing Values and Normsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Values Beliefs and Norms: Vbn Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Norms and values in sociohydrological models

Roobavannan

Emmerik

Elshafei

et al. 2018

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…While the separate, quantitative effect of religion is difficult to isolate in empirical models (Tjernström and Tietenberg, 2008), values -i.e. deeply held convictions about what is right and wrong -have been successfully formalised (in so-called Values-Beliefs-Norms frameworks) as a foundational cultural influence on environmental decision-making and behaviour (Dietz, 2013;Caldas et al, 2015). Still, there is a need to develop quantitative techniques necessary to consider 10 cultural factors in long-term and macro-scale Earth system analyses.…”

Section: Environmental Value Sets Of Religionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…regarding reduced-complexity social-ecological models and agent-based and cellular social-ecological models (Hornborg and Crumley, 2006;Dearing et al, 2012;van Vuuren et al, 2012;Caldas et al, 2015;Verburg et al, 2016;Müller-Hansen et al, 2017), human agencies, networks and complex coevolutionary dynamics are largely neglected. This underrepresentation takes the form of models reducing human behaviour to its physical manifestations, devoid of cultural drivers and dynamics.…”

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confidence: 99%

On deeper human dimensions in Earth system analysis and modelling

Gerten¹,

Schönfeld²,

Schauberger³

2018

Preprint

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While humanity is altering planet Earth at unprecedented magnitude and speed, representation of the cultural driving factors and their dynamics in models of the Earth system is limited. In this review and perspectives paper, we argue that more or less distinct environmental value sets can be assigned to religion -a deeply embedded feature of human cultures, here defined as collectively shared belief in something sacred. This assertion renders religious theories, practices and actors suitable for 5 studying cultural facets of anthropogenic Earth system change, especially regarding deeper, non-materialistic motivations that ask about humans' self-understanding in the Anthropocene epoch. We sketch a modelling landscape and outline some research primers, encompassing the following elements: i) extensions of existing Earth system models by quantitative relationships between religious practices and biophysical processes, building on databases that allow for (mathematical) formalisation of such knowledge, ii) design of new model types that specifically represent religious morals, actors and 10 activities as part of coevolutionary human-environment dynamics, and iii) identification of research questions of humanitarian relevance that are underrepresented in purely economic-technocratic modelling and scenario paradigms. While this analysis is by necessity heuristic and semi-cohesive, we hope that it will act as a stimulus for further, interdisciplinary and systematic research on the immaterial dimension of humanity's imprint on the Earth system, both qualitatively and quantitatively. 15

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Time scale interactions and the coevolution of humans and water

2015

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We present a coevolutionary view of hydrologic systems, revolving around feedbacks between environmental and social processes operating across different time scales. This brings to the fore an emphasis on emergent phenomena in changing water systems, such as the levee effect, adaptation to change, system lock‐in, and system collapse due to resource depletion. Changing human values play a key role in the emergence of these phenomena and should therefore be considered as internal to the system. Guidance is provided for the framing and modeling of these phenomena to test alternative hypotheses about how they arose. A plurality of coevolutionary models, from stylized to comprehensive system‐of‐system models, may assist strategic water management for long time scales through facilitating stakeholder participation, exploring the possibility space of alternative futures, and helping to synthesize the observed dynamics in a wide range of case studies. Future research opportunities lie in exploring emergent phenomena arising from time scale interactions through historical, comparative, and process studies of human‐water feedbacks.

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Endogenizing culture in sustainability science research and policy

Cited by 69 publications

References 22 publications

Norms and values in sociohydrological models

Norms and values in sociohydrological models

On deeper human dimensions in Earth system analysis and modelling

Time scale interactions and the coevolution of humans and water

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