Abstract

Psychology has been interested in the environment from notions such as perception, pro-environmental behavior or other individual psychological dimensions. In recent years, greater attention has been paid to psychosocial and community dynamics, although those focused on the urban individual predominate. In this context, we identify the emergence of intentional communities that act at the interface of personal and collective change, gather under ecological principles and experience forms of coexistence in the face of the socioenvironmental crisis, with the purpose of influencing society and its relationship with nature. We conducted ethnographically oriented qualitative research in six case studies, with the aim of understanding the influence of practices of minorities directed at their surrounding community. We approached the participant's daily lives through participant observation and in-depth interviews and, through thematic content analysis, we understood their practices in the environmental, economic and social dimensions. Finally, conclude that the different forms of social influence of minorities carried out by these settlements are sustained by their demonstrative practices in the face of a catastrophic diagnosis, and their action to promote social change is articulated between sociopolitical agency and contradictions.