Man as a biological species, man as a part of society, man as a part of nature in the broad sense of the word - these are the aspects on which such a scientific discipline as human ecology works.
Ecology is a very capacious concept. She studies all the possible connections and relationships that may arise between living organisms and their environment. Those. everything that somehow happens in animate and inanimate nature is included in the competence of ecology.
The term "human ecology" was first widely spoken back in 1921, but this scientific direction gained real relevance in the 70s-90s. twentieth century, when a serious conflict between nature and the technical activities of man. The era of scientific and technological revolution not only proved the great mental potential of man, but also vividly highlighted the tragic contradictions both within human society and between man and nature. The end of the 20th to the beginning of the 21st century was marked by natural disasters associated with human activities. And the physical, mental, moral state of society began to cause serious concern among specialists. Therefore, the ecology of nature in general, and all its components in particular, have become the subject of close research by scientists.
Consider an independent branch of science that studies living conditions and their impact on the human body. The name of this industry is human ecology. Within it, a number of intersectoral areas are distinguished:
- urban ecology, i.e. human life in a city, starting from a small average town and ending with a person living in a metropolis;
- technical ecology - the impact on man of scientific and technological progress, the pros and cons associated with human activities in this area;
- psychological ecology - problems of the psychological and social sphere associated with modern human life;
- ethical ecology, studying the problems of a moral character that arise in human society. For example, the terms “ecology of conscience”, “ecology of morality”, considered within the framework of ethical ecology, were very popular some time ago;
- ethnic ecology, studying the cultural and historical features of a particular ethnic group and advocating the preservation of its unique features;
- medical science - studies the emergence of new diseases, the causes of their occurrence and ways to combat them, the physical and mental health of society;
- many other directions.
Naturally, all of them exist and are developed not by themselves, but in close connection with each other. For example, environmental ecology as an integral part of the ecology of nature in general, is also associated with human ecology. After all, the latter, in a global volume, has studied the relationship between the natural world and human society on a global scale. So anthropological ecology appeared. A study of the spiritual life of society and social ecology served as the basis for such areas as the ecology of culture and ecology of the spirit.
Human ecology, studying the world of people at all stages of its development, focuses on the following problems:
- the number of individual human communities and humanity as a whole;
- age and sex ratio of people in one or another community;
- the level of health of the community, viewed through the ratio of the average life expectancy of the people in it, the most common diseases and the characteristic causes of death;
- features of nutrition of people in a particular era of their existence, the culture of cooking, the number of calories consumed by people on average and over a certain time period;
- labor activity of people, the main branches of labor, its tools and mechanisms. What sources of energy did people in the household and household use?
- the habitats of human communities, the reasons for people living in certain territories and leaving them;
- culture and hygiene of people in different periods of their existence.