Society consists of various social structures which includes regulatory factors like values and norms. These values and norms in turn influencing the choice and behaviour of the strategies of institutions for adaptation to climate change.
Values are the wide concepts which are embedded in the social structures. These values are based on the core concept of the desirable preferences and the moral obligations within every social structure. On the other hand institutions play a vital role as they link together different social structures and their functions. Through these linkages these social networks become responsible for adaptation to climate change. Perceptions of people towards nature depend on the extent to which societies see themselves as separate from or part of the environment around them. These perceptions are the different ideologies based on the values as the product of their societal history. These ideas and perceptions can be contested in order to dominate over each other with the help of politics/power. This ‘social construction of nature’ influences the institutional approach towards adaptation to climate change.
Values embedded in different worldviews
These values are the product of different worldviews and the ideologies as described by Brien and i.e., Traditional worldviews, modern worldviews and post-modern worldviews. Traditional worldviews have the values associated mainly with conservation. Tradition, conformity and security are the key concepts of traditional world views. Traditional worldviews linked the values in the form of traditional knowledge to the social responsibilities. This ideology in traditional worldview leads the institutional structures towards the ‘environmental determinism’. Modern worldviews have values associated with self-enhancement with the help of power and achievement. This ideology leads to the approach
References: * O’Brien. K. L. (2009). Do values subjectively define the limits to climate change adaptation?. In W. N. Adger, I. Lorenzoni, & K. L. O’Brien (Eds.), Adapting to climate change: Thresholds, values, governance (pp. 164-178). United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. * Ensor, J., & Berger, R. (2009). Community based adaptation and culture in theory and practice. In W. N. Adger, I. Lorenzoni, & K. L. O’Brien (Eds.), Adapting to climate change: Thresholds, values, governance (pp. 227-239). United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. * Heyd, T., & Brooks, N. (2009). Exploring cultural dimensions of adaptation to climate change. In W. N. Adger, I. Lorenzoni, & K. L. O’Brien (Eds.), Adapting to climate change: Thresholds, values, governance (pp. 269-281). United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. * Moser, S. C. (2009). Whether our levers are long enough and fulcrum strong? Exploring the soft underbelly of adaptation decisions and actions. In W. N. Adger, I. Lorenzoni, & K. L. O’Brien (Eds.), Adapting to climate change: Thresholds, values, governance (pp. 313-330). United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. * Inderberg, T. k., & Eikeland, P., O. (2009). Limits to adaptation: analysing institutional contraints. In W. N. Adger, I. Lorenzoni, & K. L. O’Brien (Eds.), Adapting to climate change: Thresholds, values, governance (pp. 433-446). United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.