Roles for professional psychology in environmental action: Reframing the dominant social paradigm through ecofeminism and deep ecology

This study addresses processes of defining problems and seeking solutions relating to psychology and the global environmental crisis. The purpose of the study was to examine the process of change from the Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP) towards a new paradigm, epitomized by the Deep Ecology and Ecofeminist movements, and to use this analysis to propose roles for professional psychologists related to environmental action. The literature on the DSP was examined and summarized, providing a socio-historical context for the analysis.;This study adopted Watzlawick, Weakland and Fisch's (1974) theory of change as a methodological framework to examine the social change process. The concepts of second-order change and reframing were used in examining approaches to defining environmental problems within the DSP, and the deep ecology and ecofeminist movements.;The approaches of current environmental movements were summarized, to illustrate their major underlying assumptions, and show how each movement has either remained within or broken from the DSP in attempting "solutions." The literature from the ecofeminist and deep ecology movements was then examined. The assumptions underlying the worldview of each movement were compared and contrasted to the assumptions underlying the DSP, and were found to provide a different model.;The approaches of ecofeminism and deep ecology were then examined within the framework of Watzlawick et al.'s theory of change, resulting in the conclusion that they exemplified the principles of the theory and its techniques of second-order change and reframing.;This investigation concluded that the concepts of second-order change and reframing can be helpful in defining problems and seeking solutions related to the global environmental crisis. The connections between ecofeminism and deep ecology were elucidated by addressing the processes of their approaches to change, and by acknowledging the positive functions of their differences. The present work of psychologists was reframed, using the views of deep ecology and ecofeminism, and seen as contributing to the solution of the environmental crisis. Expansion of these roles was discussed. Finally, examples were presented using the paradigm of deep ecology and ecofeminism to challenge the assumptions underlying psychologists' work as theorists, educators, community psychologists, and clinicians.