The art piece (Appendix A) expresses the beauty and picturesqueness of the world around people. It is full of bright colors, and a central element is a large number of pink flowers. Behind them, one can see a mountain landscape that evokes admiration. Initially, people can think of this picture as some mess, but a continuous look at it helps them understand this picture more. It may be seen as similar to the work of an environmental sociologist who, from sometimes fascinating facts about nature, constructs a whole scientific theory. This picture may be interpreted as a call for the reconsideration of research on the environment.
In the academic community, there are two positions on how the environment should be researched. One side claims that scientists should be dispassionate and rational in their research on the environment. In this understanding, environmental studies are independent disciplines based on internal rules of research. However, Laszewski indicates that sociologists strikingly disagree with this position, claiming that natural and social spheres are inseparable (20). Very acute themes like climate change cannot be researched only in a disinterested, purely rational way because the solution to this problem hides under sociological research. The prepared picture addresses this debate by highlighting the impossibility of a disinterested approach to all themes concerned with nature preservation. The colors of nature are so bright and thrilling that they provoke imaginative thinking about sociological theory-building. Thus, the areas of environment and sociology are intrinsically linked, therefore these fields of study should work in tandem.
To sum up, the landscape in this picture is bright and colorful, hence it may be considered an art piece that deserves public attention. This essay raised the idea that the picture can be interpreted in terms of sociological issues. It calls for a change of perception about research on the environment because many believe that the disinterested approach is suitable for it. Instead, the beauty of nature in the picture shows that it is impossible to be purely pragmatic about the environment.
Work Cited
Laszewski, Chuck. “The Sociologists’ Take on the Environment.” Contexts, vol. 7, no. 2, 2008, pp. 20-25.
Appendix A
