{"title":"Understanding forest pictures on social media– A method to grasp nonverbal dimensions of human–nature relationships","authors":"Jasmin Breithut, Wiebke Hebermehl, Stephanie Bethmann, Kristina Wirth","doi":"10.1080/23251042.2021.1923157","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The increasing importance of images as an everyday medium of communication (e.g. in consequence of the use of smartphones and social media) has led to an intensive engagement of the social sciences with the methodological accessibility of images. In this paper we present a qualitative image analysis method developed to understand nonverbal dimensions of human-nature relationships. The method is methodologically substantiated and presented in form of a step-by-step guideline. It offers an opportunity to transfer images into words by accepting the images characteristic materiality. Furthermore, an example analysis of a picture posted on a social media platform is provided. Based on this, this paper asks and discusses what research dedicated to the visual can do for environmental sociology regarding content-related insights as well as regarding methodological issues addressing a sociological research that rethinks and expands its repertoire to increasingly involve more-than-human actors in environmental sociology. In this way, the paper aims to discuss the added value of the suggested method and its potential to improve the understanding of sensory and emotional dimensions of human-nature relationships in the context of environmental sociology.","PeriodicalId":54173,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Sociology","volume":"7 1","pages":"338 - 350"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23251042.2021.1923157","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Sociology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2021.1923157","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
ABSTRACT The increasing importance of images as an everyday medium of communication (e.g. in consequence of the use of smartphones and social media) has led to an intensive engagement of the social sciences with the methodological accessibility of images. In this paper we present a qualitative image analysis method developed to understand nonverbal dimensions of human-nature relationships. The method is methodologically substantiated and presented in form of a step-by-step guideline. It offers an opportunity to transfer images into words by accepting the images characteristic materiality. Furthermore, an example analysis of a picture posted on a social media platform is provided. Based on this, this paper asks and discusses what research dedicated to the visual can do for environmental sociology regarding content-related insights as well as regarding methodological issues addressing a sociological research that rethinks and expands its repertoire to increasingly involve more-than-human actors in environmental sociology. In this way, the paper aims to discuss the added value of the suggested method and its potential to improve the understanding of sensory and emotional dimensions of human-nature relationships in the context of environmental sociology.
期刊介绍:
Environmental Sociology is dedicated to applying and advancing the sociological imagination in relation to a wide variety of environmental challenges, controversies and issues, at every level from the global to local, from ‘world culture’ to diverse local perspectives. As an international, peer-reviewed scholarly journal, Environmental Sociology aims to stretch the conceptual and theoretical boundaries of both environmental and mainstream sociology, to highlight the relevance of sociological research for environmental policy and management, to disseminate the results of sociological research, and to engage in productive dialogue and debate with other disciplines in the social, natural and ecological sciences. Contributions may utilize a variety of theoretical orientations including, but not restricted to: critical theory, cultural sociology, ecofeminism, ecological modernization, environmental justice, organizational sociology, political ecology, political economy, post-colonial studies, risk theory, social psychology, science and technology studies, globalization, world-systems analysis, and so on. Cross- and transdisciplinary contributions are welcome where they demonstrate a novel attempt to understand social-ecological relationships in a manner that engages with the core concerns of sociology in social relationships, institutions, practices and processes. All methodological approaches in the environmental social sciences – qualitative, quantitative, integrative, spatial, policy analysis, etc. – are welcomed. Environmental Sociology welcomes high-quality submissions from scholars around the world.