Environmental Sociology

Environment is the sum total of conditions in which an organism has to survive or maintain its life process. It refers to both abiotic (physical or non-living) and biotic (living) environment. Environmental studies provide an approach towards understanding the environment of our planet and the impact of human life upon the environment.

Definition of environment

The term "environment" comes from the French word "environ" meaning "where about", "around", "surroundings." Environment literally means surrounding and everything that affect an organism during its lifetime. The environment is the complex set of physical, geographic, biological, social, cultural and political conditions that surround an individual or organism and that ultimately determine its form and the nature of its survival. It includes natural forces and other living things, which provide conditions for development and growth as well as of danger and damage of an organism.

According to Oxford Dictionary, “Environment is the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates.”

According to P. Gisbert “Environment is anything immediately surrounding an object and exerting a direct influence on it.” [Pascual Gisbert, Fundamentals of Sociology]

According to Swarup, Mishra and Jauhari (1992), “Environment as pervasive which pervades from one’s own home to workplace and throughout the socio-economic system involving the various fields of industry, agriculture, urbanization, transportation and so on. [Quoted by P. Nag & et al., Geography and Environment]

According to De and Bose (1991), “Environment as the sum total of the conditions of all surroundings within which an organism or group of organism or an object exists.” [Quoted by P. Nag & et al., Geography and Environment]

Thus, environment refers to anything that is immediately surrounding an object and exerting a direct influence on it. Environment regulates the life of the organisms including human beings. It’s chief components are soil, water, air, organisms and solar energy.

Types of Environment

There are mainly three types of environment-

1. The Physical environment

i. It is also known as a-biotic environment and natural environment.

ii. The meaning of ‘a-biotic’ or ‘physical’ is non living like land, water, air etc. So we can say that physical or a-biotic environment is the environment which includes non living or physical things which are constitutes of soil and affect the living things.

iii. The Physical environment can be divided into three sub-heads namely

a. Atmosphere - the protective blanket of gases which is surrounding the earth. It protects the earth from the hostile environment of outer space

b. Hydrosphere - The hydrosphere is a collective term given to all different forms of water. It includes all types of water resources such as oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, streams, reservoirs, glaciers and ground waters.

c. Lithosphere - The earth’s crust consisting of the soil and rocks is the lithosphere.

Figure : The classification of the environment

The Importance of Physical Environment

i. For residential space, we need land area. The land area is included in physical environment. So it is responsible for the residential for living beings.

ii. The a-biotic environment like soil, water and air are the necessary nutrients element provider for the living beings.

iii. The living beings take oxygen and other gases from the atmosphere.

iv. The a-biotic environment also controls the climatic factors like weather.

v. The physical environment also includes the soil which is responsible for the works and food crops for the living beings.

vi. Water is one of the most necessary things for living beings. Physical environment also deals with the water factor of the earth.

2. Biological environment

i. The meaning of ‘biological’ is living things. So, the biological environment is the environment which involves the