environmental determinism

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

noun

1. 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.

2. sometimes used to mean geographical determinism ( def ).

Word History and Origins

Origin of environmental determinism¹

First recorded in 1890–95