Abstract

As a result of the multiple ecological problems affecting contemporary society, environmental education has become increasingly important in recent decades. However, despite its importance, this concern does not seem to have gone hand in hand with the consideration of environmental education within the framework of a complex enought sociological theory. As we will argue in this article, this has had important effects in the conceptualization of environmental education, which is hence generally described as a process of ethical socialization with the aim of improving society. Using the distinctions of Luhmann's social systems theory of social systems between a) psychic and social systems and b) different functional systems, we will propose an understanding of environmental education as an intentional effort to socialize about the relationship between society and its physical environment, which, as part of the communications of a specialized system, reflect society's form of differentiation. Once this definition is proposed, we will propose a model of environmental education for a functionally differentiated society, taking Chile as example. The article closes with a summary, future lines of research and policy recommendations.