Thinking Social-Scientifically about Environmental Quality

• Author: Samuel Z. Klausner
• DOI: 10.1177/000271627038900101
• Published date: 01 May 1970
• Date: 01 May 1970
• Subject Matter: Articles

1

Thinking

Social-Scientifically

about

Environmental

Quality

By

SAMUEL

Z.

KLAUSNER*

Samuel

Z.

Klausner,

Ed.D.,

Ph.D.,

Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania,

is

Director

of

the

Center

for

Research

on

the

Acts

of

Man

at

the

University

of

Pennsylvania.

He

has

taught

at

the

City

College

of

New

York,

the

Hebrew

University

in

Jerusalem,

Union

Theo-

logical

Seminary,

and

Columbia

University,

and

is

currently

a

member

of

the

Depart-

ment

of

Sociology

at

the

University of

Pennsylvania.

He

is

the

author

of

Psychiatry

and

Religion

(1963)

and

the

editor

of

The

Quest

for

Self-Control

(1964),

The

Study

of

Total

Societies

(1967),

and

Why

Man

Takes

Chances

(1968).

His

research

on

societal

aspects

of

the

environmental

crisis

is

reported

in

Human

Action

in

the

Non-

Human

Environment

(forthcoming).

He

is

a

member

of

the

Panel

on

Noise

Abatement

of

the

Commerce

Department’s

Technical

Advisory

Board

and

Chairman

of

the

Com-

mittee

on

Support

of

Dissertation

Research

in

Recreation

and

Leisure

of

the

National

Academy

of

Sciences.

* This

article

was

prepared

as

part

of

the

program

of

research

on

society

and

its

physical

environment

of

the

Center

for

Research

on

the

Acts

of

Man

at

the

University

of

Pennsyl-

vania.

Dr.

Albert

E.

Gollin

generously

offered

suggestions

on

its

style

and

thought.

ABSTRACT:

Technological

intervention

to

improve

the

qual-

ity

of

the

environment

is

an

immediate

need.

The

current

environmental

crisis

is

rooted

in

the

character

of

the

society

which

develops

and

uses

technology.

The

relation

of

society

to

its

physical

environment

is

governed

by

the

society’s

defini-

tions

of

its

resources

and

the

rules

evolved

for

regulating

social

relations

with

respect

to

the

environment.

Fundamen-

tal

solutions

to

environmental

problems

must,

therefore,

in-

clude

social

solutions.

To

stem

deterioration

of

the

quality

of

the

environment

will

require

an

examination

of

those

rules

regulating

the

relation

between

individuals

and

the

collective.