ANZSYS

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Values and Variables identifying the critical
variables in linked social-ecological systems.

• Angela Wardell-Johnson
• Murdoch University, Western Australia.

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This presentation.

• Demonstrates numerical taxonomy as an approach to
  identifying critical variables that define
  difference between people in the values that
  underpin decision-making in landscape management
• Ecological sampling
• Conceptual models
• Focus on numerical taxonomy to locate statistical
  tensions as insight into interactive processes

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Landscape managementcritical issues

• Resilience
• emerges at the complex interface between social
  and biophysical systems
• Complex assemblage
• of relationships, values and practice
• Symbolic relationships
• with place and between people drive rational and
  material decisions
• We need to identify these relationships and
  values
• to manage for adaptive and resilient
  agricultural landscapes

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Numerical Taxonomy

• Meta-theoretical shift
• from inferential analysis
• Robust and statistically evaluated
• Process based portrayal
• of structure
• Characterisation
• of sets of cases variables
• Emphasis on
• diversity not reduction
• Non-normal distribution of data

Byrne 2002, Belbin et al 2002.
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Ecological sampling

• Sampling across social catchments to capture
• Broad representation that accurately reflects
  diversity in the population base
• Population statistics
• Land-use
• Geographical range
• Representation that reflects the decision-making
  community
• Captured
• critical

Winter 2000, Whitehead 2003, Austin 1991,
Cheng2003
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Scale people and the landscape

• Continuum
• The abstract environmental space of
  representation across a range
• Captures the diversity of interacting processes
• Sets the boundaries for the context

• Community
• Reflects the context within a specific landscape
• the pattern of variables that represent a
  particular landscape context
• Describes the content of a landscape context

Austin, 1991
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The decision-making community

• Conflict
• Cognitive
• People have different definitions and judgements
  of a situation
• Values
• Goals and outcomes are in dispute
• Interest
• Relative cost and benefits of a situation
• Relationship
• The winners and losers in the exercise of power

• Three forms
• Status Quo
• Subjugated
• Subject
• Two interactions
• Captured
• Critical

Duane 1997, Guattari 2000, Winter, Winter 2000
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Defining the community

• Communities of place
• Are tied to a physical space through geography
• Communities of identity
• Tied to each other through social characteristics
  but may transcend place
• Communities of interest
• Commonalities in how they relate to a particular
  ecosystem or resource as beneficiaries of the
  place or contributors to its condition.

Duane 1997
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Linked dimensions

• Sense of place
• natural environments can be viewed both as
  ecological systems subject to the laws of natural
  processes and as socially constructed places
• Social Capital
• Social structure, process and organisation
  providing resources (environmental, cultural,
  ethical, economic and spiritual) for individuals
  to realise their interests
• Discourses of the Environment
• embedded in language.that. rests on
  assumptions, judgements and contentions

Malpas 2001, Pretty Ward 2001, Dryzek 1997
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Sense of Place natural environments
ecological systems subject to the laws of natural
processes and socially constructed places
MEMORY
SOCIETY
COLLECTIVE
INDIVIDUAL
physical landscape
attachment
FUTURE
PAST
identity
Malpas 2001, Kaltenborn 1998, Tall 1996
Abstract - Concrete
IDENTITY
Symbolic - Material
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Social Capital social structure, process and
organisation providing resources for individuals
to realise their interests
Class class consciousness Marx Engels
MACRO
Moral order Durkheim
MESO
Generalised Bridging
MICRO
Drawn from a broad range of significant
researchers into social capital.
Wall 1998, Woolcock 1998, Field 2003, Pretty
Ward 2001
Relations of Trust
Reciprocity Exchange
Social Networks
Sense of duty enforceable trust Weber
Reciprocity transactions Simmel Exchange
theorists
Particularised Bonding
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Environmental Discourse embedded in
language.that. rests on assumptions, judgements
and contentions
TRUTH
IDEALS
KNOWLEDGE
INDIVIDUAL
POWER
Sayer 2000, Foucault 1991
IDEOLOGY
PRACTICE
SOCIETY
ENVIRONMENT
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Discourses of the Environment A conceptual model
RADICAL
Survivalism
Green Romanticism
Prometheanism
PROSAIC
IMAGINATIVE
Benton Short 1999, Dryzek, 1997
Green Rationalism
Environmental Problem Solving
Sustainable Development
REFORMIST
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Numerical Taxonomy the process

• Cluster analysis
• Affinities between cases and variables to define
  groups
• Social assemblages
• Attribute clusters
• Ordination
• a compact summary of the data reduce dimensions
  
• Co-ordinates of cases with variables in abstract
  dimensional space
• Network analysis
• relationships between participants and values

• Principal Axis Correlation
• linear correlation between variable ordination
• MonteCarlo Permutation tests
• significance of association between variables
  ordination.
• ANOSIM
• Statistical difference between clusters
• Kruskal Wallis
• variables most significantly associated with the
  cluster analysis

Belbin 1993
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Portrayal of analysis Ordination Social
assemblages Networks of values
The lines show the connections between people
The dots represent people in the survey
Analysis based on rows - Association
Measure Bray Curtis Classification
Strategy Agglomerative Hierarchical Fusion
Technique Flexible UPGMA Beta
-0.0500 Number of groups to produce7
Ordination Method SSH CutOff 0.900
3 Dimensions Number of random
starts 100 Max iterations 500
Random Seed Value 1235   Analysis based on
columns - Association Measure Two-step
Classification Strategy Agglomerative
Hierarchical Fusion Technique Flexible
UPGMA Beta -0.1000 Number of
groups to produce5 WinPATN, Belbin et al 2003

• 109 respondents in this analysis
• 60 response rate
• 104 variables
• 30 intrinsic
• 74 extrinsic

Colourssocial assemblages with similar responses
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ANOSIM Statistical difference between clusters
Table 1. Column Anosim showing degree of
statistical difference between attribute clusters
at the plt0.05 cutoff.
Table 1 significance of difference between
attribute clusters
Table 2 significance of difference between
social assemblages
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Associationstwo-way table
Variables
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2
3
4
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Attribute Clusters
Matrix showing strength of relationships between
cases variables
1
2
3
4
Cases/ participants
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Social Assemblages
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7
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Associationsrow dendrogram
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2
Variables
3
Relationships between variables
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Attribute clusters
5
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Statistically significant variables
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Ordinationoverlaid statistically significant
biplot vectors
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Peoplevalues in abstract ordination space
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Finding structure
Eoyang, G.H. 2004
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Content Process

• Sense of Place three sets of values
• Social, symbolic and economic
• symbolic values underpin social and economic
  values
• Social Capital micro, meso and macro scales
• Meso scale social capital facilitates bridging
  social capital
• Environmental Discourse ideals, ideology
  practice
• local, scientific and indigenous knowledge
• interacts with notions of truth and the exercise
  of power to form the prevailing constraining
  discourse

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Process System

• Complex Adaptive Systems
• Adaptive capacity
• Ability to self-organise
• Defined by emergent characteristics
• Emergent Characteristics of three interacting
  social dimensions
• Communities of Place, Identity and Interest
• Local, Scientific and Indigenous knowledge
• Social, Ecological and Economic landscape values.

Holling 2001
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Complex Adaptive Systems rural agricultural
Basins of Attraction
Resilience phase state parameters
SELF-ORGANISATION
ADAPTIVE CAPACITY
TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE
EMERGENT CHARACTERISTICS
3 COMMUNITIES
3 KNOWLEDGES
Walker, Brian 2003 pers comm
SENSE OF PLACE
SOCIAL CAPITAL
ENVIRONMENTAL DISCOURSE
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Acknowledgements

• Sue Moore Laura Stocker for supervision.
• My family, Grant, Lee and Douglas for outstanding
  help with analysis, IT support and general
  encouragement.
• The Blackwood Basin, Queensland Government and
  CRC for Salinity for funding the research.
• And most importantly, the people in these
  communities that have participated!