Theoretical Convergences and Divergences of the Environmental Sociology regarding the Analysis of the Brazilian Environmental Policy

Abstract

Analysis of Brazilian environmental policy, the perspectives guided by the conception of “sustainable development” are predominant. However, there are other possibilities. Using the systematic integrative literature review, this work aimed at identifying the theoretical convergences and divergences based on three theoretical approaches characterized as “environmental sociology”: ecological modernization, risk society and late modernity. The objective was to obtain content directed to the analysis of the Brazilian environmental policy. In general, the three approaches discussed are related to the environmental crisis and the modernity and criticize the conventional policies, suggesting a greater participation in such policies. One of the central divergences concerns the relationship between the modernization and the environment: the ecological modernization advocates the possibility of reconciling the modernization and the environment with the current production model and addresses mechanisms that can contribute to this goal. In society of risk and in the late modernity, this is not always possible due to the paradoxical role played by science and technology.