Toward a Political Ecology of Mind: Reconciling the Role of Individuals and Systems in Social Change
This article develops a political ecology of mind framework for understanding how individual cognition is shaped by social and institutional forces. It examines gatekeeping, infrastructure, epistemic enclosure, and feedback manipulation as mechanisms of power that influence knowledge, behavior, and opportunities for meaningful social and environmental change.
Subject Tags
- Community-based conservation
Abstract
The question of what motivates human behavior is at the heart of efforts to move communities and societies toward more sustainable, equitable, and just relations. Yet, theories of human behavior remain fragmented, contested, and often fail to fully explain why people do what they do. Here, I develop a “political ecology of mind”: an interdisciplinary framework for understanding human cognition and behavior that situates the mind as a terrain of power spanning individual, social, and institutional levels. I identify gatekeeping, infrastructure, epistemic enclosure, and feedback manipulation as the primary mechanisms by which those with power determine what information circulates, what is suppressed, and whose interests current information ecosystems serve. Meaningful social change requires not just better theories of behavior, but the creation of alternative epistemic spaces and active confrontation of the tangible ways the current social order limits our horizons by limiting what we think, know, and ultimately do.
Citation
Loring, P. A. 2026. “ Toward a Political Ecology of Mind: Reconciling the Role of Individuals and Systems in Social Change.” Antipode 58, no. 5: e70213. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.70213.
TNC Authors
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Philip Loring
Global Director of Human Dimensions Science
The Nature Conservancy
Email: philip.loring@tnc.org