ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM Definition & Meaning

environmental determinism

[ en-vahy-ruhn-muhn-tl di-tur-muh-niz-uhm, -vahyern- ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a doctrine that considers environmental conditions to be the determining factor in the development of an individual, society, or culture: Compare economic determinism, geographical determinism.
Advocates and reformers, using a doctrine of environmental determinism, argued that reforming a degraded built environment would reform its residents.
Proponents of environmental determinism would suggest that differences in the education and career aspirations of boys and girls are determined by external socializing forces.
sometimes used to mean geographical determinism ( def ).

Discover More

51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of environmental determinism¹

First recorded in 1890–95

Discover More

Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Such projects have often been motivated by a kind of environmental determinism—the idea that human flourishing, or at least fluid traffic, can be unlocked through better design.

From

This is not environmental determinism.

From

In this case, a misguided acceptance of environmental determinism led to millions of needless deaths.

From

Dartnell takes up environmental determinism in his answer: “The astonishing fact is that this clearly defined band of Democratic-voting areas is the result of an ancient ocean, tens of millions of years old.”

From

One anthropologist published an academic paper entitled F**k Jared Diamond, in which he accused the genteel American of disguised “racism” and “environmental determinism” which served to normalise colonialism.

From

Browse