Formation of social ecology and its subject. Formation of the subject of social ecology. Introduction to the subject

In order to better present the subject of social ecology, one should consider the process of its emergence and formation as an independent branch of scientific knowledge. In fact, the emergence and subsequent development of social ecology was a natural consequence of the ever-increasing interest of representatives of various humanitarian disciplines - sociology, economics, political science, psychology, etc. - to the problems of interaction between man and the environment.[ ...]

The term "social ecology" owes its appearance to American researchers, representatives of the Chicago School of Social Psychologists - R. Park and E. Burges, who first used it in their work on the theory of population behavior in an urban environment in 1921. The authors used it as a synonym for the concept " human ecology. The concept of "social ecology" was intended to emphasize that in this context we are talking not about a biological, but about a social phenomenon, which, however, also has biological characteristics.[ ...]

It should be noted, however, that the term "social ecology", apparently best suited to designate a specific direction of research into the relationship of a person as a social being with the environment of his existence, has not taken root in Western science, in which preference from the very beginning began to be given to the concept of "human ecology" (human ecology). This created certain difficulties for the formation of social ecology as an independent, humanitarian in its main focus, discipline. The fact is that in parallel with the development of the actual socio-ecological problems within the framework of human ecology, bio-ecological aspects of human life were developed in it. Having passed by this time a long period of formation and, due to this, having more weight in science, having a more developed categorical and methodological apparatus, human biological ecology for a long time “shielded” humanitarian social ecology from the eyes of the advanced scientific community. Nevertheless, social ecology existed for some time and developed relatively independently as the ecology (sociology) of the city.[ ...]

Despite the obvious desire of representatives of the humanitarian branches of knowledge to free social ecology from the "yoke" of bioecology, it continued to experience a significant influence from the latter for many decades. As a result, social ecology borrowed most of the concepts, its categorical apparatus from the ecology of plants and animals, as well as from general ecology. At the same time, as D. Zh. Markovich notes, social ecology gradually improved its methodological apparatus with the development of the spatio-temporal approach of social geography, the economic theory of distribution, etc.[ ...]

During the period under review, the list of tasks that this branch of scientific knowledge, which was gradually gaining independence, was called upon to solve, significantly expanded. If at the dawn of the formation of social ecology, the efforts of researchers mainly boiled down to searching in the behavior of a territorially localized human population for analogues of laws and ecological relations characteristic of biological communities, then from the second half of the 60s, the range of issues under consideration was supplemented by the problems of determining the place and role of man in the biosphere. , working out ways to determine the optimal conditions for its life and development, harmonization of relationships with other components of the biosphere. The process of humanitarization that has engulfed social ecology in the past two decades has led to the fact that, in addition to the above tasks, the range of issues it develops includes the problems of identifying the general laws of the functioning and development of social systems, studying the influence of natural factors on the processes of socio-economic development and finding ways to control the action. these factors.[ ...]

In our country, by the end of the 1970s, conditions had also developed for separating social and environmental issues into an independent area of interdisciplinary research. A significant contribution to the development of domestic social ecology was made by E. V. Girusov, A. N. Kochergin, Yu. G. Markov, N. F. Reimers, S. N. Solomina and others.

V.V.Haskin. From their point of view, social ecology as part of human ecology is a complex of scientific branches that study the relationship of social structures (starting with the family and other small social groups), as well as the relationship of man with the natural and social environment of their habitat. This approach seems to us more correct, because it does not limit the subject of social ecology to the framework of sociology or any other separate humanitarian discipline, but emphasizes its interdisciplinary nature.[ ...]

Some researchers, when defining the subject of social ecology, tend to emphasize the role that this young science is called upon to play in harmonizing the relationship of mankind with its environment. According to E.V. Girusov, social ecology should first of all study the laws of society and nature, by which he understands the laws of self-regulation of the biosphere, implemented by man in his life.[ ...]

Akimova T. A., Khaskin V. V. Ecology. - M., 1998.[ ...]

Agadzhanyan H.A., Torshin V.I. Human ecology. Selected lectures. -M., 1994.

Ilinykh I.A.

SOCIAL ECOLOGY

Tutorial

Gorno-Altaisk, 2018
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword……………………………………………………….	4
Topic 1. Introduction to social ecology……………………	6
Topic 2 Social problems…………………………………	17
Topic 3. Society as a social system…………………..	20
Topic 4. Stability of the social system and mechanisms for maintaining stability…………………………………………	26
Topic 5. Ideal and greening of society………………………	31
Topic 6. Environmental consciousness………………………………..	39
Topic 7. Nature: ambiguity and unambiguity of understanding……………………………………………………………...	50
Topic 8. The essence of man………………………………………	55
Topic 9. Ecological culture………………………………...	65
Topic 10. Ecological ideology……………………………..	72
Topic 11. Environmental policy………………………………	89
Topic 12. environmental law. Sources of environmental law…………………………………………………………………….	92
Topic 13. Environmental education…………………………	99
Topic 14. Environmental education……………………………	100
Topic 15. Environmental propaganda and environmental campaigning……………………………………………………………...	101
Topic 16. Final lesson……………………………………….	103

FOREWORD

The manual is a detailed development of classes on the subject of "social ecology" for bachelor students studying in the direction of "Ecology and nature management".

Methodological basis this course is a humane-personal approach to learning, on which the ideas of pedagogical technologies of active learning are strung: problem-based learning, the development of critical thinking and game situations. Classes are developed with the involvement of methods of both collective and individual work: heuristic thinking, "chain of cause and effect relationships", brainstorming, association method, "case method", essays, etc. The material collected in the manual was originally selected in such a way so that you can organize your work with the help of a “portfolio”.

The work in the classroom is carried out in three stages:

ü The first stage, it can be called introductory, is the activation of consciousness, i.e. the initial adjustment of consciousness to work on the topic of the lesson is carried out. The first two or three tasks are completed based on the knowledge the student already has. In the process of completing the tasks of the preparatory stage, questions and a desire to get answers to them should appear.

ü The second stage, and it can be called the main one, is devoted to correcting the knowledge that was shown on preparatory stage and getting to know new material. Probably in the process of immersion in new material answers to questions that have arisen before will appear.

ü The third stage, which can be called the final one, contains tasks focused on combining initial knowledge with the knowledge that appeared during the study of new material.

If the work is carried out with the help of a portfolio, then all tasks are performed in writing on A4 sheets and placed in a folder with multifors (or fastened with a binder). The texts of the new material are printed out and placed along with the completed assignments. The texts can be (it is even desirable that it be so) worked out by the author using various kinds of notes: highlights, comments, questions ... which testify to the thoughtful work of the portfolio author. In its final form, the first page of the portfolio is the title page, which contains information about the name of the subject being studied, the author of the portfolio and the teacher.

What is attractive about the "portfolio" as a method of organizing work within subject? Most importantly, it allows you to escape from the stereotypical perception of the workspace - a notebook - where each topic follows one another, the sheets are rigidly fastened, and it is impossible to change the sequence of topics. In a portfolio, sheets are easily separated from each other and this gives the impression that the portfolio author can manage his work at this level. There is another important aspect that also applies to the creative way the sheet itself is organized. A blank white sheet can be filled in as you like. The white sheet plays the role of a field for creating images in it. Images are words and sentences that are mixed with drawings, and the author again chooses where to place the images.

Topic 1

Introduction to social ecology

Exercise 1

Write an essay on the topic "What is social ecology?" or “I think social ecology is…” or “I think social ecology is…”.

Task 2

Based on your understanding of the subject of social ecology, write what are:

ü tasks,

ü object(s),

the subject,

the methods,

connections with other sciences.

Task 3

Complete the table using the text below.

Table - Methodological aspects of social ecology

Introduction to the subject

Social ecology is a scientific discipline that considers the relationship of society with the geographical, social and cultural environment, i.e. with the human environment. Communities of people in connection with their environment have a dominant social organization (levels are considered from elementary social groups to humanity as a whole). The history of the emergence of society has long been studied by anthropologists and social scientists-sociologists.

The main goal of social ecology is to optimize the coexistence of man and the environment on a systematic basis. A person, acting in this case as a society, making the subject of social ecology large contingents of people, breaking up into separate groups depending on their social status, occupation, age. Each of the groups, in turn, is connected with the environment in specific relationships within the framework of housing, places of recreation, garden plot etc.

Social ecology is the science of the adaptation of subjects to processes in natural and artificial environments. Object of social ecology: subjective reality of subjects of different levels. Subject of social ecology: adaptation of subjects to processes in natural and artificial environments.

The goal of social ecology as a science is to create a theory of the evolution of the relationship between man and nature, the logic and methodology for transforming the natural environment. Social ecology is designed to clarify and help bridge the gap between man and nature, between humanitarian and natural sciences.

Social ecology reveals patterns of relationships between nature and society, which are just as fundamental as physical patterns.

But the complexity of the subject of research itself, which includes three qualitatively different subsystems - inanimate and living nature and human society, and the short existence of this discipline lead to the fact that social ecology, at least at present, is predominantly an empirical science, and patterns are extremely aphoristic statements.

The concept of law is interpreted by most methodologists in the sense of an unambiguous causal relationship. A wider interpretation of the concept of law as a limitation of diversity is given by cybernetics, and it is more suitable for social ecology, which reveals the fundamental limitations of human activity. The main law can be formulated as follows: the transformation of nature must correspond to its adaptive capabilities.

One way to formulate socio-ecological patterns is to transfer them from sociology and ecology. For example, as the basic law of social ecology, the law of the correspondence of productive forces and production relations to the state of the natural environment is proposed, which is a modification of one of the laws of political economy.

Two directions are subordinated to the fulfillment of the tasks of social ecology: theoretical (fundamental) and applied. Theoretical social ecology is aimed at studying the patterns of interaction between human society and the environment to develop a general theory of their balanced interaction. In this context, the problem of identifying the co-evolutionary patterns of modern industrial society and the nature it changes comes to the fore.

Social ecology is the science of harmonizing the interactions between society and nature. The subject of social ecology is the noosphere, that is, the system of socio-natural relations, which is formed and functions as a result of conscious human activity. In other words, the subject of social ecology is the processes of formation and functioning of the noosphere.

Problems related to the interaction of society and its environment are called environmental problems. Initially, ecology was a branch of biology (the term was introduced by Ernst Haeckel in 1866). Environmental biologists study the relationship of animals, plants, and entire communities with their environment. An ecological view of the world is such a ranking of the values and priorities of human activity, when the most important is the preservation of a human-friendly environment.

For social ecology, the term "ecology" means a special point of view, a special worldview, a special system of values and priorities of human activity, focused on harmonizing the relationship between society and nature. In other sciences, “ecology” means something different: in biology, a section of biological research on the relationship between organisms and the environment, in philosophy, the most general patterns interaction of man, society and the Universe, in geography - the structure and functioning of natural complexes and natural economic systems. Social ecology is also called human ecology or modern ecology. In recent years, a scientific direction has begun to actively develop, called "globalistics", which develops models of a controlled, scientifically and spiritually organized world in order to save earthly civilization.

One of the fundamental concepts used to achieve this goal is the concept of social ecosystems.

The content of this concept has not yet been developed enough, therefore, a socio-ecosystem is understood as a hardened model of the "society-nature" system, as well as very complex models containing environmental, economic, social, demographic and other subsystems. The interaction and significance of these subsystems are not fully understood, which is reflected in the prevalence of some of them and the loss or reduction of others, including, paradoxically, ecological or natural.

When forming a structural-functional global-regional model of the "society-nature" system on the basis of a systematic approach, a rather deeply realized and substantiated by science, but not yet society, understanding of the unity of the world, including everything terrestrial on Earth, should be embodied.

At the same time, it should be taken into account that such complex systems consist of a large number of variables and, therefore, a large number of connections between them. The greater their number, the more difficult the subject of research is to achieve the final result, to deduce the patterns of functioning of this system. The difficulties in studying such systems are also connected with the fact that the more complex it is, the more so-called emergent properties it has, that is, properties that its parts do not have and which are a consequence of the integrity of the system.

Socio-ecosystems of different orders form its vertical structure, which includes levels of organization and its hierarchy.

Therefore, connections and selected formalized subsystems - society, economy, society, etc., are “linked” with each other in the model and are built into the systems covering them more high levels hierarchies and organizations, including spatial ones, up to the planet Earth.

The following levels of socio-ecological modeling and their corresponding socio-ecosystems are distinguished: global, regional and local.

Formation of the subject of social ecology

The term "social ecology" owes its appearance to American researchers, representatives of the Chicago School of Social Psychologists - R. Park and E. Burges , who first used it in his work on the theory of population behavior in an urban environment in 1921. The authors used it as a synonym for the concept of "human ecology". The concept of “social ecology” was intended to emphasize that in this context we are talking not about a biological, but about a social phenomenon, which, however, also has biological characteristics.

One of the first definitions of social ecology was given in his work in 1927 by R. McKenzil, who characterized it as the science of the territorial and temporal relations of people, which are influenced by selective (selective), distributive (distributive) and accommodative (adaptive) forces of the environment . Such a definition of the subject of social ecology was intended to become the basis for the study of the territorial division of the population within urban agglomerations.

It should be noted, however, that the term "social ecology", which seems to be best suited to designate a specific direction of research into the relationship of a person as a social being with the environment of his existence, has not taken root in Western science, in which preference from the very beginning began to be given to the concept of "human ecology" (human ecology). This created certain difficulties for the formation of social ecology as an independent, humanitarian in its main focus, discipline. The fact is that in parallel with the development of the socio-ecological problems proper, within the framework of human ecology, bioecological aspects of human life were developed in it. Having passed by this time a long period of formation and, due to this, having more weight in science, having a more developed categorical and methodological apparatus, human biological ecology for a long time "shielded" humanitarian social ecology from the eyes of the advanced scientific community. Nevertheless, social ecology existed for some time and developed relatively independently as the ecology (sociology) of the city.

Despite the obvious desire of representatives of the humanitarian branches of knowledge to free social ecology from the "yoke" of bioecology, it continued to experience a significant influence from the latter for many decades. As a result, social ecology borrowed most of the concepts, its categorical apparatus from the ecology of plants and animals, as well as from general ecology. At the same time, as D.Zh. Markovich notes, social ecology gradually improved its methodological apparatus with the development of the spatio-temporal approach of social geography, the economic theory of distribution, etc.

Significant progress in the development of social ecology and the process of its separation from bioecology occurred in the 60s of the last century. The 1966 World Congress of Sociologists played a special role in this. The rapid development of social ecology in subsequent years led to the fact that at the next congress of sociologists, held in Varna in 1970, it was decided to create a Research Committee of the World Association of Sociologists on Problems of Social Ecology. Thus, as D.Zh.

In our country, by the end of the 1970s, conditions had also developed for separating social and environmental issues into an independent area of interdisciplinary research. A significant contribution to the development of domestic social ecology was made by E.V. Girusov, A.N. Kochergin, Yu.G. Markov, N.F. Reimers, S.N. Solomina and others.

One of the most important problems facing researchers at the present stage of the formation of social ecology is the development of a unified approach to understanding its subject. Despite the obvious progress made in the study of various aspects of the relationship between man, society and nature, as well as a significant number of publications on social and environmental issues that have appeared in the last two or three decades in our country and abroad, on the issue of what exactly this branch of scientific knowledge studies, there are still different opinions. In the school reference book "Ecology" A.P. Oshmarina and V.I. Oshmarina give two options for defining social ecology: in the narrow sense, it is understood as the science “on the interaction of human society with the environment natural environment”, and in a broader sense - the science “about the interaction of an individual and human society with natural, social and cultural environments”. It is quite obvious that in each of the presented cases of interpretation we are talking about different sciences that claim the right to be called “social ecology”. No less revealing is the comparison between the definitions of social ecology and human ecology. According to the same source, the latter is defined as: “1) the science of the interaction of human society with nature; 2) ecology of the human personality; 3) the ecology of human populations, including the doctrine of ethnic groups. One can clearly see the almost complete identity of the definition of social ecology, understood "in the narrow sense", and the first version of the interpretation of human ecology. The desire for the actual identification of these two branches of scientific knowledge, indeed, is still characteristic of foreign science, but it is quite often subjected to well-reasoned criticism by domestic scientists. S.N. Solomina, in particular, pointing out the expediency of breeding social ecology and human ecology, limits the subject of the latter to consideration of the socio-hygienic and medical-genetic aspects of the relationship between man, society and nature. V.A. Bukhvalov, L.V. Bogdanova and some other researchers agree with this interpretation of the subject of human ecology, but N.A. Agadzhanyan, V.P. Kaznacheev and N.F. the discipline covers a much wider range of issues of the interaction of the anthroposystem (considered at all levels of its organization from the individual to humanity as a whole) with the biosphere, as well as with the internal biosocial organization of human society. It is easy to see that such an interpretation of the subject of human ecology actually equates it with social ecology, understood in a broad sense. This situation is largely due to the fact that at present there has been a steady trend of convergence of these two disciplines, when there is an interpenetration of the subjects of the two sciences and their mutual enrichment through the joint use of the empirical material accumulated in each of them, as well as methods and technologies of socio-ecological and anthropoecological research.

Today, an increasing number of researchers tend to broaden the interpretation of the subject of social ecology. So, according to D.Zh.Markovich, the subject of study of modern social ecology, understood by him as a private sociology, are specific links between man and his environment. Based on this, the main tasks of social ecology can be defined as follows: the study of the influence of the environment as a combination of natural and social factors on a person, as well as the influence of a person on environment perceived as the framework of human life.

A somewhat different, but not contradictory to the previous, interpretation of the subject of social ecology is given by T.A. Akimova and V.V. Khaskin. From their point of view, social ecology as part of human ecology is a complex of scientific branches that study the relationship of social structures (starting with the family and other small social groups), as well as the relationship of a person with the natural and social environment of their habitat. This approach seems to us more correct, because it does not limit the subject of social ecology to the framework of sociology or any other separate humanitarian discipline, but emphasizes its interdisciplinary nature.

Literature

1. Bganba, V.R. Social ecology: textbook / V.R.Bganba. - M.: Higher school, 2004. - 310 p.

2. Gorelov, A. A. Social ecology / A. A. Gorelov. – M.: Mosk. Lyceum, 2005. - 406 p.

3. Malofeev, V.I. Social ecology: Textbook for universities / V.I. Malofeev - M.: "Dashkov and K", 2004. - 260 p.

4. Markov, Yu.G. Social ecology. Interaction between society and nature: Textbook / Yu.G.Markov - Novosibirsk: Siberian University Publishing House, 2004. - 544 p.

5. Sitarov, V.A. Social ecology: a textbook for students. higher ped. textbook institutions / V.A. Sitarov, V.V. Pustovoitov. – M.: Academy, 2000. – 280 p.

Task 4

Complete the table below.

Table - Reflective analysis on the topic of the lesson

Homework

Write an essay on the topic: “Paradoxes of social ecology” or “Contradictions of social ecology” or “I am perplexed ...”, etc.

Theme 2

Social problems

Exercise 1

ü Write an essay "The essence of social problems" or "My view of social problems" or "My understanding of the essence of social problems", etc.

Task 2

ü Read an article from a newspaper (for example, from the regional newspapers "Leaflet", "Postscript", etc.), which deals with any social problem.

ü Describe the problem by filling in the table “Social problems of the region (based on the materials of the regional newspaper “Listok”, if you have another newspaper, insert the appropriate title).

Table - Social problems of the region based on the materials of the newspaper "Listok" (if you have another newspaper, insert the appropriate name)

Task 3

ü Read the article "Social Problems" from the electronic encyclopedia "WIKIPEDIA" URL:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D1%EE%F6%E8%E0%EB%FC%ED%FB%E5_%EF%F0%EE%E1%EB%E5%EC%FB

ü Read the article “The Main Social Problems of Russia in the Last Decade” by N.P. Popov posted on the website “Standards and Quality” URL: http://ria-stk.ru/mi/adetail.php?ID=39422

ü Identify the causes of existing social problems.

ü Fill in the table “Social problems and their causes” (if you do not have enough information provided, then fill in the gap yourself).

Table - Social problems and their causes

Social ecology arose at the intersection of sociology, ecology, philosophy and other branches of science, with each of which it closely interacts. In order to determine the position of social ecology in the system of sciences, it must be borne in mind that the word "ecology" means in some cases one of the ecological scientific disciplines, in others - all scientific ecological disciplines. Social ecology is a link between the technical sciences (hydraulic engineering, etc.) and the social sciences (history, jurisprudence, etc.).

The following argumentation is given in favor of the proposed system. There is an urgent need to replace the concept of the hierarchy of sciences with the idea of a circle of sciences. The classification of sciences is usually built on the principle of hierarchy (subordination of some sciences to others) and successive fragmentation (separation, not combination of sciences).

This diagram does not claim to be complete. Transitional sciences (geochemistry, geophysics, biophysics, biochemistry, etc.) are not marked on it, the role of which is extremely important for solving an environmental problem. These sciences contribute to the differentiation of knowledge, cement the entire system, embodying the inconsistency of the processes of "differentiation - integration" of knowledge. The scheme shows the importance of the "connecting" sciences, including social ecology. In contrast to the sciences of the centrifugal type (physics, etc.), they can be called centripetal. These sciences have not yet reached the proper level of development, because in the past insufficient attention was paid to the connections between the sciences, and it is very difficult to study them.

When the knowledge system is built on the principle of hierarchy, there is a danger that some sciences will hinder the development of others, and this is dangerous from an environmental point of view. It is important that the prestige of the sciences of the natural environment should not be lower than the prestige of the sciences of the physicochemical and technical cycles. Biologists and ecologists have accumulated a lot of data that testify to the need for a much more careful, careful attitude to the biosphere than is the case at present. But such an argument weighs only from the standpoint of a separate consideration of branches of knowledge. Science is a connected mechanism, the use of data from some sciences depends on others. If the data of the sciences are in conflict with each other, preference is given to sciences that enjoy great prestige, i.e. at present, the sciences of the physicochemical cycle.

Science should approach the degree of a harmonious system. Such a science will help create a harmonious system of relationships between man and nature and ensure the harmonious development of man himself. Science contributes to the progress of society not in isolation, but together with other branches of culture. Such a synthesis is no less important than the greening of science. Value reorientation is an integral part of the reorientation of the whole society. The attitude to the natural environment as integrity presupposes the integrity of culture, the harmonious connection of science with art, philosophy, etc. Moving in this direction, science will move away from focusing exclusively on technological progress, responding to the deepest demands of society - ethical, aesthetic, as well as those that affect the definition of the meaning of life and the goals of society's development (Gorelov, 2000).

The main directions of development of social ecology

To date, three main areas have emerged in social ecology.

The first direction is the study of the relationship of society with the natural environment at the global level - global ecology. The scientific foundations of this direction were laid by V.I. Vernadsky in the fundamental work "Biosphere", published in 1928. In 1977, a monograph by M.I. Budyko "Global Ecology", but there, mainly climatic aspects are considered. Such topics as resources, global pollution, global cycles of chemical elements, the influence of the Cosmos, the functioning of the Earth as a whole, etc., did not receive proper coverage.

The second direction is the study of the relationship with the natural environment of various groups of the population and society as a whole from the point of view of understanding a person as a social being. Human relations to the social and natural environment are interconnected. K. Marx and F. Engels pointed out that the limited relationship of people to nature determines their limited relationship to each other, and their limited relationship to each other - their limited relationship to nature. This is social ecology in the narrow sense of the word.

The third direction is human ecology. Its subject is a system of relationships with the natural environment of a person as a biological being. The main problem is the purposeful management of the preservation and development of human health, the population, the improvement of Man as a biological species. Here and forecasts of changes in health under the influence of changes in the environment, and the development of standards in life support systems.

Western researchers also distinguish between the ecology of human society - social ecology and human ecology. Social ecology considers the impact on society as a dependent and manageable subsystem of the "nature - society" system. Human ecology - focuses on the person himself as a biological unit.

The history of the emergence and development of ecological ideas of people is rooted in ancient times. Knowledge about the environment and the nature of relationships with it has acquired practical significance since the dawn of the development of the human species.

The process of formation of the labor and social organization of primitive people, the development of their mental and collective activity created the basis for understanding not only the very fact of their existence, but also for an ever greater understanding of the dependence of this existence both on the conditions within their social organization and on external natural conditions. The experience of our distant ancestors was constantly enriched and passed down from generation to generation, helping a person in his daily struggle for life.

The lifestyle of primitive man gave him information about the animals he hunted, and about the suitability or unsuitability of the fruits he collected. Already half a million years ago, human ancestors had a lot of information about the food they obtained by gathering and hunting. At the same time, the use of natural sources of fire for cooking began, the consumer qualities of which improved significantly under heat treatment conditions.

Gradually, mankind accumulated information about the properties of various natural materials, about the possibility of their use for certain purposes. The technical means created by primitive man testify, on the one hand, to the improvement of the production skills and abilities of people, and on the other hand, they are proof of their “knowledge” of the outside world, since any, even the most primitive, tool requires knowledge of the properties of natural objects from its creators , as well as understanding the purpose of the tool itself and familiarity with the methods and conditions for its practical use.

Approximately 750 thousand years ago, people themselves learned how to make a fire, equip primitive dwellings, mastered ways to protect themselves from bad weather and enemies. Thanks to this knowledge, man was able to significantly expand the area of \u200b\u200bhis habitat.

Starting from the 8th millennium BC. e. in Western Asia begin to practice various methods tillage and cultivation of agricultural crops. In the countries of Central Europe, this kind of agrarian revolution took place in the 6-2nd millennium BC. As a result a large number of people moved to a sedentary lifestyle, in which there was an urgent need for deeper observations of the climate, in the ability to predict the change of seasons and weather changes. By the same time, people discovered the dependence of weather phenomena on astronomical cycles.

Awareness of one's dependence on nature, the closest connection with it, played an important role in the formation of the consciousness of primitive and ancient man, refracting in animism, totemism, magic, and mythological representations. The imperfection of the means and methods of cognition of reality prompted people to create a special, more understandable, explainable and predictable, from their point of view, world of supernatural forces, acting as a kind of mediator between a person and the real world. Supernatural entities anthropomorphized by primitive people, in addition to the features of their immediate carriers (plants, animals, inanimate objects), were endowed with features of a human character, they were attributed to the features of human behavior. This gave grounds for primitive people to experience their kinship with the nature around them, a sense of "participation" in it.

The first attempts to streamline the process of cognition of nature, placing it on a scientific basis, began to be made already in the era of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China. Accumulation of empirical data on the course of various natural processes, on the one hand, and the development of counting systems and the improvement of measurement procedures, on the other ¾, made it possible to predict with ever higher accuracy the onset of certain natural disasters (eclipses, eruptions, river floods, droughts, etc.), put the process on a strict planned basis agricultural production. The expansion of knowledge of the properties of various natural materials, as well as the establishment of some key physical laws, made it possible for ancient architects to achieve perfection in the art of creating residential buildings, palaces, temples, as well as household buildings. The monopoly on knowledge allowed the rulers of ancient states to keep masses of people in obedience, to demonstrate the ability to "control" the unknown and unpredictable forces of nature. It is easy to see that at this stage the study of nature had a clearly defined utilitarian orientation.

The greatest progress in the development of scientific ideas about reality fell on the era of antiquity (VIII century BC ¾ V century AD). With its beginning, there was a departure from utilitarianism in the knowledge of nature. This has found its expression, in particular, in the emergence of new areas of its study, not focused on obtaining direct material benefits. People's desire to recreate a consistent picture of the world and realize their place in it began to come to the fore.

One of the main problems that occupied the minds of ancient thinkers was the problem of the relationship between nature and man. The study of various aspects of their interaction was the subject of scientific interests of the ancient Greek researchers Herodotus, Hippocrates, Plato, Eratosthenes and others.

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 BC) associated the process of formation of character traits in people and the establishment of a particular political system with the action of natural factors (climate, landscape features, etc.).

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (460¾377 BC) taught that it is necessary to treat the patient, taking into account the individual characteristics of the human body and its relationship with the environment. He believed that environmental factors (climate, water and soil conditions, people's lifestyle, laws of the country, etc.) have a decisive influence on the formation of bodily (constitution) and spiritual (temperament) human properties. The climate, according to Hippocrates, also largely determines the features of the national character.

The famous idealist philosopher Plato (428-348 BC) drew attention to the changes (mostly negative) that occur over time in the human environment, and to the impact these changes have on the way people live. Plato did not connect the facts of the degradation of the living environment of a person with the economic activity carried out by him, considering them signs of natural decline, the rebirth of things and phenomena of the material world.

The Roman naturalist Pliny (23¾79 AD) compiled a 37-volume work "Natural History", a kind of encyclopedia of natural science, in which he presented information on astronomy, geography, ethnography, meteorology, zoology and botany. Describing a large number of plants and animals, he also indicated the places of their growth and habitat. Of particular interest is Pliny's attempt to compare man and animals. He drew attention to the fact that instinct dominates in animals in life, and a person acquires everything (including the ability to walk and talk) through learning, through imitation, and also through conscious experience.

Started in the second half of the 2nd c. The decline of the ancient Roman civilization, its subsequent collapse under the pressure of the barbarians and, finally, the establishment of the dominance of dogmatic Christianity in almost the entire territory of Europe led to the fact that the sciences of nature and man experienced a state of deep stagnation for many centuries, without receiving practically any development.

The situation changed with the onset of the Renaissance, the approach of which was heralded by the works of such eminent medieval scholars as Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon.

The Peru of the German philosopher and theologian Albert of Bolshtedt (Albert the Great) (1206¾1280) owns several natural science treatises. The works "On Alchemy" and "On Metals and Minerals" contain statements about the dependence of climate on the geographical latitude of the place and its position above sea level, as well as on the relationship between the inclination of the sun's rays and the heating of the soil. Here Albert speaks of the origin of mountains and valleys under the influence of earthquakes and floods; considers the Milky Way as a cluster of stars; denies the fact of the impact of comets on the fate and health of people; explains the existence of hot springs by the action of heat coming from the depths of the Earth, etc. In the treatise "On Plants" he analyzes the issues of organography, morphology and physiology of plants, cites facts on selection cultivated plants, expresses the idea of variability of plants under the influence of the environment.

The English philosopher and naturalist Roger Bacon (1214-1294) argued that all organic bodies are in their composition various combinations of the same elements and liquids that make up inorganic bodies. Bacon emphasized the role of the sun in the life of organisms, and also drew attention to their dependence on the state of the environment and climatic conditions in a specific habitat. He also spoke of the fact that man, no less than all other organisms, is subject to the influence of climate ¾ of its changes can lead to changes in the bodily organization and characters of people.

The advent of the Renaissance is inextricably linked with the name of the famous Italian painter, sculptor, architect, scientist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci (1452¾1519). He considered the main task of science to establish the laws of natural phenomena, based on the principle of their causal, necessary connection. Studying the morphology of plants, Leonardo was interested in the influence exerted on their structure and functioning by light, air, water and the mineral parts of the soil. The study of the history of life on Earth led him to the conclusion about the connection between the fate of the Earth and the Universe and the insignificance of the place that our planet occupies in it. Leonardo denied the central position of the Earth both in the Universe and in the solar system.

The end of the XV ¾ the beginning of the XVI century. rightly bears the name of the era of the great geographical discoveries. In 1492, the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus discovered America. In 1498, the Portuguese Vasco da Gama circled Africa and reached India by sea. In 1516(17?) Portuguese travelers first reached China by sea. And in 1521, Spanish navigators led by Ferdinand Magellan made the first trip around the world. Rounding South America, they reached East Asia, after which they returned to Spain. These travels were an important step in expanding knowledge about the Earth.

In 1543, the work of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres” was published, which outlined the heliocentric system of the world, reflecting the true picture of the universe. The discovery of Copernicus made a revolution in people's ideas about the world and their understanding of their place in it. The Italian philosopher, a fighter against scholastic philosophy and the Roman Catholic Church, Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) made a significant contribution to the development of the Copernican doctrine, as well as to freeing him from shortcomings and limitations. He argued that in the Universe there are countless stars similar to the Sun, a significant part of which is inhabited by living beings. In 1600, Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake by the Inquisition.

The invention of new means of studying the starry sky contributed greatly to the expansion of the boundaries of the known world. The Italian physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) designed a telescope with which he studied the structure of the Milky Way, establishing that it is a cluster of stars, observed the phases of Venus and spots on the Sun, discovered four large satellites of Jupiter. The last fact is remarkable in that Galileo, by his observation, actually deprived the Earth of the last privilege in relation to other planets. solar system¾ monopoly on the "ownership" of a natural satellite. A little more than half a century later, the English physicist, mathematician and astronomer Isaac Newton (1642-1727), based on the results of his own research on optical phenomena, created the first mirror telescope, which to this day remains the main tool for studying the visible part of the Universe. With its help, many important discoveries were made, which made it possible to significantly expand, clarify and streamline ideas about the cosmic "home" of mankind.

The onset of a fundamentally new stage in the development of science is traditionally associated with the name of the philosopher and logician Francis Bacon (1561-1626), who developed inductive and experimental methods of scientific research. He proclaimed the main goal of science to increase the power of man over nature. This is achievable, according to Bacon, only under one condition - science should allow a person to understand nature as best as possible, so that, obeying it, a person, in the end, can dominate in and over it.

At the end of the XVI century. The Dutch inventor Zachary Jansen (lived in the 16th century) created the first microscope that allows you to take images of small objects magnified with glass lenses. The English naturalist Robert Hooke (1635¾1703) significantly improved the microscope (his device gave a 40-fold magnification), with which he first observed plant cells, and also studied the structure of some minerals.

His pen belongs to the first work - "Micrography" telling about the use of microscope technology. One of the first microscopists, the Dutchman Anthony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), who achieved perfection in the art of grinding optical glasses, received lenses that made it possible to obtain an almost three hundredfold increase in the observed objects. Based on them, he created a device of an original design, with the help of which he studied not only the structure of insects, protozoa, fungi, bacteria and blood cells, but also food chains, population regulation, which later became the most important sections of ecology. Leeuwenhoek's research actually marked the beginning of the scientific study of the hitherto unknown living microcosm, this integral component of the human habitat.

The French naturalist Georges Buffon (1707-1788), author of the 36-volume Natural History, expressed thoughts about the unity of the animal and plant world, about their vital activity, distribution and connection with the environment, defended the idea of species change under the influence of environmental conditions. He drew the attention of contemporaries to the striking similarity in the structure of the body of man and monkey. However, fearing accusations of heresy by the Catholic Church, Buffon was forced to refrain from speaking about their possible "kinship" and origin from a single ancestor.

A significant contribution to the formation of a true pre-compression about the place of man in nature was the compilation by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) of a classification system for the plant and animal world, according to which a person was included in the system of the animal kingdom and belonged to the class of mammals, order of primates, in As a result, the human species was named Homo sapiens.

major event in the 18th century. was the emergence of the evolutionary concept of the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829), according to which the main reason for the development of organisms from lower to higher forms is the desire inherent in living nature to improve the organization, as well as the influence of various external conditions on them. Changing external conditions change the needs of organisms; in response to this, new activities and new habits arise; their action, in turn, changes the organization, the morphology of the being in question; the new traits thus acquired are inherited by the offspring. Lamarck believed that this scheme is also valid in relation to man.

The ideas of the English priest, economist and demographer Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) had a certain influence on the development of environmental ideas of contemporaries and the subsequent development of scientific thought. He formulated the so-called "law of population", according to which the population increases exponentially, while the means of subsistence (primarily food) can only increase in arithmetic progression. Malthus proposed to deal with the overpopulation that inevitably arises with such a development of events by regulating marriages and limiting the birth rate. He also called in every possible way to "contribute to the actions of nature that cause mortality ...": to overpopulate houses, to make narrow streets in cities, thereby creating favorable conditions for the spread of deadly diseases (such as plague). The views of Malthus were subjected to severe criticism even during the life of their author, not only for their anti-humanity, but also for their speculation.

Ecological trend in plant geography throughout the first half of the 19th century. was developed by the German naturalist-encyclopedist, geographer and traveler Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm Humboldt (1769-1859). He studied in detail the features of the climate in various regions of the Northern Hemisphere and compiled a map of its isotherms, discovered the relationship between climate and the nature of vegetation, and attempted to identify botanical-geographic regions (phytocenoses) on this basis.

A special role in the development of ecology was played by the works of the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882), who created the theory of the origin of species through natural selection. Among the most important problems of ecology studied by Darwin is the problem of the struggle for existence, in which, according to the proposed concept, it is not the strongest species that wins, but the one that has managed to better adapt to the specific circumstances of life. He paid special attention to the influence of lifestyle, living conditions and interspecific interactions on their morphology and behavior.

In 1866, the German evolutionary zoologist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) in his work "General Morphology of Organisms" proposed the whole range of issues related to the problem of the struggle for existence and the influence of a complex of physical and biotic conditions on living beings, to call the term "ecology" . In his speech “On the path of development and the task of zoology”, delivered in 1869, Haeckel defined the subject of a new branch of knowledge as follows: “By ecology we mean the science of economy, the domestic life of animal organisms. It explores the general relations of animals to both their inorganic and their organic environment, their friendly and hostile relations to other animals and plants with which they come into direct or indirect contact, or, in a word, all those intricate relationships that Darwin conventionally designated as a struggle for existence. It should be noted, however, that Haeckel's proposal was somewhat ahead of his time: more than half a century passed before the word "ecology" became firmly established in scientific use as a designation for a new independent branch of scientific knowledge.

During the second half of the XIX century. several large, relatively autonomously developing areas of environmental research have developed, the originality of each of which was determined by the presence of a specific object of study in it. These include, with a certain degree of conventionality, plant ecology, animal ecology, human ecology, and geoecology.

Plant ecology was formed on the basis of two botanical disciplines at once - phytogeography and plant physiology. Accordingly, the main attention within the framework of this direction was paid to revealing the patterns of distribution of various plant species over the Earth's surface, identifying the possibilities and mechanisms for their adaptation to specific growing conditions, studying the characteristics of plant nutrition, etc. German scientists made a significant contribution to the development of this direction in the second half of the 19th century. ¾ botanist A.A. Grisenbach, agrochemist Yu. Liebig, plant physiologist Yu. Saks, Russian chemist and agrochemist D.I. Mendeleev and others.

Research within the framework of animal ecology was also carried out in several main areas: regularities of the settlement of specific species on the surface of the planet were revealed, the causes, methods and ways of their migration were clarified, food chains, features of inter- and intraspecific relationships, the possibility of their use in the interests of man, etc. were studied. The development of these and a number of other areas was carried out by American researchers - zoologist S. Forbes and entomologist C. Reilly, Danish zoologist O.F. Muller, Russian researchers ¾ paleontologist V.A. Kovalevsky, zoologists K.M. Baer, A.F. Middendorf and K.F. Ruler, naturalist A. A. Silantiev, zoogeographer N. A. Severtsov, and others.

The problems of human ecology were developed mainly in connection with the study of the ecological aspects of human evolution and research in the field of medical epidemiology and immunology. The first direction of research in the period under review was represented by the English evolutionary biologists C. Darwin and T. Huxley, the English philosopher, sociologist and psychologist G. Spencer, the German naturalist C. Vogt and some other researchers, the second direction was represented by microbiologists, epidemiologists and immunologists E. Behring , R. Koch,

I.I. Mechnikov, L. Pasteur, G. Ricketts, P.P.E. Ru, P. Ehrlich and others.

Geoecology arose at the junction of the two largest earth sciences - geography and geology, as well as biology. At the dawn of the development of this branch of ecology, researchers were most interested in the problems of organizing and developing landscape complexes, the influence of geological processes on living organisms and humans, the structure, biochemical composition and features of the formation of the soil cover of the Earth, etc. A significant contribution to the development of this area was made by German geographers A Humboldt and K. Ritter, Russian soil scientist V.V. Dokuchaev, Russian geographer and botanist A.N. Krasnov and others.

Research carried out in the framework of the above areas laid the foundation for their separation into independent branches of scientific knowledge. In 1910, the International Botanical Congress was held in Brussels, at which plant ecology was singled out as an independent botanical discipline - a biological science that studies the relationship between a living organism and its environment. In the next few decades, human ecology, animal ecology, and geoecology also received official recognition as relatively independent areas of research.

Long before individual areas of ecological research gained independence, there was an obvious tendency towards a gradual enlargement of the objects of ecological study. If initially they were single individuals, their groups, specific biological species, etc., then over time they began to be supplemented by large natural complexes, such as "biocenosis", the concept of which was formulated by a German zoologist and hydrobiologist

K. Möbius back in 1877 (the new term was intended to denote the totality of plants, animals and microorganisms inhabiting a relatively homogeneous living space). Shortly before this, in 1875, the Austrian geologist E. Suess proposed the concept of "biosphere" to designate the "film of life" on the Earth's surface. The Russian, Soviet scientist V.I. Vernadsky in his book "Biosphere", which was published in 1926. In 1935, the English botanist A. Tensley introduced the concept of "ecological system" (ecosystem). And in 1940, the Soviet botanist and geographer V.N. Sukachev introduced the term "biogeocenosis", which he proposed to designate the elementary unit of the biosphere. Naturally, the study of such large-scale complex formations required the unification of the research efforts of representatives of different “special” ecologies, which, in turn, would be practically impossible without harmonizing their scientific categorical apparatus, as well as without developing common approaches to organizing the research process itself. Actually, it is precisely this need that owes its appearance to ecology as a single science, integrating in itself the particular subject ecologies that developed earlier relatively independently of each other. The result of their reunification was the formation of a “big ecology” (according to N.F. Reimers) or “microecology” (according to T.A. Akimova and V.V. Khaskin), which today includes the following main sections in its structure:

General ecology;

Bioecology;

Geoecology;

Human ecology (including social ecology);

The development of ecological ideas of people from ancient times to the present day. The emergence and development of ecology as a science.

The emergence of social ecology. Her subject. Relationship of social ecology to other sciences: biology, geography, sociology.

Topic 2. Socio-ecological interaction and its subjects (4 hours).

Man and society as subjects of socio-ecological interaction. Mankind as a multi-level hierarchical system. The most important characteristics of a person as a subject of socio-ecological interaction: needs, adaptability, adaptation mechanisms and adaptability.

The human environment and its elements as subjects of socio-ecological interaction. Classification of the components of the human environment.

Socio-ecological interaction and its main characteristics. The impact of environmental factors on humans. Human adaptation to the environment and its changes.

Topic 3. The relationship between society and nature in the history of civilization (4 hours).

The relationship between nature and society: a historical aspect. Stages of formation of the relationship between nature and society: hunting-gathering culture, agrarian culture, industrial society, post-industrial society. Their characteristic.

Prospects for the development of relationships between nature and society: the ideal of the noosphere and the concept of sustainable development.

Topic 4. Global problems of mankind and ways to solve them (4 hours).

Population growth, population explosion. Resource crisis: land resources (soil, mineral resources), energy resources. Increasing aggressiveness of the environment: water pollution and atmospheric air, growth of pathogenicity of microorganisms. Changing the gene pool: factors of mutagenesis, genetic drift, natural selection.

Topic 5. Human behavior in the natural and social environment (4 hours).

Human behavior. Levels of behavior regulation: biochemical, biophysical, informational, psychological. Activity and reactivity as fundamental components of behavior.

Needs as a source of personality activity. Groups and types of needs and their characteristics. Characteristics of human ecological needs.

Human adaptation in the natural and social environment. Types of adaptation. The peculiarity of human behavior in the natural and social environment.

Human behavior in the natural environment. Characteristics of scientific theories of the influence of the environment on a person.

Human behavior in the social environment. organizational behavior. Human behavior in critical and extreme situations.

Topic 6. Ecology of the living environment (4 hours).

Elements of the human living environment: social and living environment (urban and residential environments), labor (industrial) environment, recreational environment. Their characteristic. The relationship of a person with the elements of his living environment.

Topic 7. Elements of environmental ethics (4 hours).

The moral aspect of the relationship between man, society and nature. The subject of environmental ethics.

Nature as a value. Anthropocentrism and Naturocentrism. Subject-ethical type of attitude to nature. Non-violence as a form of attitude towards nature and as a moral principle. The problem of non-violent interaction between man, society and nature in various religious concepts (Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, Christianity).

Topic 8. Elements of environmental psychology (4 hours).

Formation and development of environmental psychology and its subject. Characteristics of psychological ecology and environmental ecology.

Subjective attitude to nature and its varieties. Basic parameters of subjective attitude to nature. Modality and intensity of subjective attitude to nature. Typology of subjective attitude to nature.

Subjective perception of the world nature. Forms and methods of giving subjectivity to natural objects (animism, anthropomorphism, personification, subjectification).

Ecological consciousness and its structure. Structure of anthropocentric and ecocentric ecological consciousness. The problem of formation of ecological consciousness in the younger generation.

Topic 9. Elements of environmental pedagogy (4 hours).

The concept of ecological culture of personality. Types of ecological culture. Pedagogical conditions of its formation.

Ecological education of the individual. Development of environmental education in Russia. Modern content of environmental education. School as the main link in environmental education. The structure of environmental education of the future teacher.

Ecologization of education. Characteristics of the greening of education abroad.

EXAMPLE TOPICS OF SEMINAR LESSONS

Topic 1. The formation of the relationship between man and nature at the dawn of the history of civilization (2 hours).

Man's exploration of nature.

Features of the perception of nature by primitive people.

The formation of ecological consciousness.

Tylor B.D. Primitive culture. - M., 1989. - S. 355-388.

Levy-Bruhl L. Supernatural in primitive thinking. -M., 1994.-S. 177-283.

Topic 2. Modern environmental crisis and ways to overcome it (4 hours).

Ecological crisis: myth or reality?

Prerequisites for the emergence of an ecological crisis.

Ways to overcome the ecological crisis.

Literature to prepare for the lesson

White L. Historical roots of our ecological crisis // Global problems and universal values. - M., 1990. -S. 188-202.

Atfield R. Ethics of ecological responsibility // Global problems and universal values. - M., 1990. - S. 203-257.

Schweitzer A. Reverence for life. - M., 1992. - S. 44-79.

Topic 3. The ethical aspect of the relationship between man and nature (4 hours).

What is environmental ethics?

The main ethical and ecological doctrines of the relationship between man and nature: anthropocentrism and naturocentrism.

The essence of anthropocentrism and its general characteristics.

The essence of naturocentrism and its general characteristics.

Literature to prepare for the lesson

Berdyaev N.A. Philosophy of freedom. The meaning of creativity. - M., 1989.-S. 293-325.

Rolston X. Is there an environmental ethics? // Global problems and universal values. - M., 1990. - S. 258-288.

Schweitzer A. Reverence for life. - M., 1992. - S. 216-229.

Topic 4. Ecology and ethnogenesis (2 hours).

The essence of the process of ethnogenesis.

The influence of landscape features on ethnogenesis.

Ethnogenesis and evolution of the Earth's biosphere.

Literature to prepare for the lesson

Gumilyov L. N. Biosphere and impulses of consciousness // The end and the beginning again. - M., 1997. - S. 385-398.

Topic 5. Man and the noosphere (2 hours).

The idea of the noosphere and its creators.

What is the noosphere?

The formation of the noosphere and the prospects of mankind.

Literature to prepare for the lesson

Vernadsky V.I. A few words about the noosphere // Russian cosmism: an anthology of philosophical thought. -M., 1993. -S. 303-311.

Teilhard de Chardin. The human phenomenon. -M., 1987.-S. 133-186.

Men A. History of religion: In search of the Way, Truth and Life: In 7 vols.-M., 1991.-T. 1.-S. 85-104; pp. 121-130.

CONTROL QUESTIONS FOR HUMAN ECOLOGY

TO PREPARE FOR RESULTS

The development of ecological ideas of people from ancient times to the present day. The emergence and development of ecology as a science.

The term "ecology" was proposed in 1866 by the German zoologist and philosopher E. Haeckel, who, while developing a classification system for biological sciences, discovered that there is no special name for the field of biology that studies the relationship of organisms with the environment. Haeckel also defined ecology as "the physiology of relationships", although "physiology" was understood very broadly - as the study of a wide variety of processes occurring in living nature.

The new term entered the scientific literature rather slowly and began to be used more or less regularly only from the 1900s. As a scientific discipline, ecology was formed in the 20th century, but its prehistory dates back to the 19th, and even to the 18th century. So, already in the works of K. Linnaeus, who laid the foundations of the systematics of organisms, there was an idea of \u200b\u200bthe “economy of nature” - a strict ordering of various natural processes aimed at maintaining a certain natural balance.

In the second half of the 19th century, research that was essentially ecological began to be carried out in many countries, both by botanists and zoologists. So, in Germany, in 1872, the capital work of August Grisebach (1814-1879) was published, who for the first time gave a description of the main plant communities of the entire the globe(these works were also published in Russian), and in 1898 - a major summary of Franz Schimper (1856-1901) "Geography of Plants on a Physiological Basis", which provides a lot of detailed information about the dependence of plants on various factors environment. Another German researcher, Karl Mobius, studying the reproduction of oysters in the shallows (the so-called oyster banks) of the North Sea, proposed the term "biocenosis", which denoted the totality of various living creatures that live in the same territory and are closely interconnected.

The 1920-1940s were very important for the transformation of ecology into an independent science. At this time, a number of books on various aspects of ecology were published, specialized journals began to appear (some of them still exist), and ecological societies arose. But most importantly - gradually formed theoretical background new science, the first mathematical models and develops its own methodology that allows you to set and solve certain problems.

Formation of social ecology and its subject.

Today, an increasing number of researchers tend to broaden the interpretation of the subject of social ecology. So, according to D.Zh. Markovich, the subject of study of modern social ecology, understood by him as a particular sociology, is the specific relationship between a person and his environment. Based on this, the main tasks of social ecology can be defined as follows: the study of the influence of the environment as a combination of natural and social factors on a person, as well as the influence of a person on the environment, perceived as the framework of human life.

A somewhat different, but not contradictory, interpretation of the subject of social ecology is given by T.A. Akimov and V.V. Haskin. From their point of view, social ecology as part of human ecology is a complex of scientific branches that study the relationship of social structures (starting with the family and other small social groups), as well as the relationship of man with the natural and social environment of their habitat. This approach seems to us more correct, because it does not limit the subject of social ecology to the framework of sociology or any other separate humanitarian discipline, but emphasizes its interdisciplinary nature.

Some researchers, when defining the subject of social ecology, tend to emphasize the role that this young science is called upon to play in harmonizing the relationship of mankind with its environment. According to E. V. Girusov, social ecology should first of all study the laws of society and nature, by which he understands the laws of self-regulation of the biosphere, implemented by man in his life.