Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In recent years, there have been various efforts by sociologists and other scholars to formulate more adequate theoretical frameworks or theories for analyzing the environment. Our own theoretical thrust is not only to integrate the conceptualizations of selected scholars but also to bring to the fore issues that have not received the attention they deserve. Given our knowledge about the process of constructing the Edwards Aquifer Authority, we weave together key theoretical elements of three major scholars who have addressed the environment: Ulrich Beck, Walter Firey, and Elinor Ostrom. We first sketch out the basic conceptual contributions of each of these distinguished environmental scholars, before next exploring how their conceptual advances might be integrated into a broader socio-cultural framework for interpreting the environment in general and, more specifically, resource use. In the process we suggest how this framework can prove useful in understanding not only the Texas experience but other situations as well.