The Implications Of Individualism In Threats To Biodiversity

In viewing threats to biodiversity, its implications can be interpreted and understood through multiple facets of the perspective of Modernization theory, such as its cultural implications. The cultural relevance of issues such as the loss of species, resources and global warming are all greatly impacted by the opinions of the people and whether or not they view these issues as affecting their way of life. This can be interpreted through modernization theories’ attention toward the individual perspective, or the individualization of culture and society, which focuses on the opinions and desires of the people. Individualization is also heightened by the characteristics of Western society that are dispersed throughout the globe to allow advancement in other societies, promoting a highly individualized way of living that requires …show more content…
Though an individualistic approach may allow for greater focus to be placed upon these issues as people throughout multiple cultures, individualization in culture can also allow for the issues to become irrelevant if the goals of modern society are focused on people’s immediate desires. The cultural efforts which encourage threats to biodiversity promote their continuation within the world of economics, which fund the efforts to satisfy culturally motivated desires in modern society. The cultural relevance of threats to biodiversity is recognized as directly correlating to the economic measures recognized for contributing to the prevalence of such issues within society. German Sociologist Max Weber stressed the important influence of cultural ethics on economic behavior within society, influencing modernization theory by heightening the relevance of capital (Armer et al. 2010). The importance of capital within a modernized society is recognized as paramount, but it is also seen as the major contributor to promoting global pollution and the overconsumption of resources through technological advance. In