The Czech Sociological Review invites original research articles on the above theme from all relevant social science disciplines and methodological approaches. The deadline for receipt for papers from potential authors is September 1, 2011, with a planned publication date in 2012. While not required, we kindly request that all potential authors inform the guest editors of the special issue, Michael L. Smith (michael.smith@soc.cas.cz) and Petr Jehlička (p.jehlicka@open.ac.uk), of their intention to submit a paper once they make that decision.
Papers should be submitted to the journal email address sreview@soc.cas.cz
This special issue focuses on new research on the transformation of citizens’ attitudes, concerns, and behaviors towards the environment in Central and Eastern European countries. The study of these topics has a long tradition. Scholars have differentiated a number of different forms of environmental behavior and types of concern, have developed competing models of the relationship between attitudes and behavior, and have sought to understand the relationship between citizens’ beliefs about the environment and a broad range of other social, economic and political phenomena. Given the importance of climate change, renewable energy, conservation and related themes in modern society, it is no surprise that above topics have moved from being a marginal to a central theme of the social sciences.
Surprisingly, there have been relatively few empirical studies that have traced the transformation of environmental values and behaviors across time and space in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. One reason has been the lack of data sources; but with the emergence of new social surveys in Europe addressing environmental issues, opportunities are ripe for researchers to use both qualitative and quantitative approaches for assessing the contours of social-environmental change across the region. We specifically invite papers that address some of the following questions:
- How have environmental value orientations, concerns, and behaviors changed since 1989 across the CEE, what factors have contributed to that change?
- What role does social inequality and poverty play in shaping people’s environmental behaviors and conditions in the CEE?
- To what degree are specific environmental behaviors and practices (e.g. recycling) rooted in environmental policies and/or local conditions?
- What relationships exist between the environmental attitudes/behaviors of ordinary citizens and that of environmental NGOs?
- To what extent do changes in environmental attitudes and behaviors in the CEE represent a process of Europeanization or globalization?
- Do CEE environmental values, concerns and behaviors differ from those elsewhere in the ‘North?
Qualitative case studies, single-country studies, as well as large cross-national comparative studies are welcome. Papers that compare environmental attitudes and behaviors in the CEE with other parts of the world are also welcome. All papers should follow the guidelines for papers submitted to the Czech Sociological Review, available at the journal website: http://sreview.soc.cas.cz/en/page/10-about-us. Any specific questions about the special issue should be addressed to the guest editors at their emails above.