Exploring the Meaning of Environmental Risk in Everyday Life among Rural Communities Experiencing Environmental Degradation: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Environmental sociology has long examined how environmental change and risk are socially produced and distributed within society, emphasizing the interaction between social structures and ecological conditions. More recent scholarship has increasingly focused on how environmental risk is experienced at the local level, particularly among rural communities whose livelihoods depend directly on natural resources. However, limited attention has been given to how environmental risk is subjectively experienced, interpreted, and given meaning in everyday life, raising the question of how rural community members make sense of environmental degradation as a lived phenomenon. Here, this study adopts an interpretative phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of rural residents living in a rural community affected by environmental degradation, where everyday livelihoods remain closely connected to local ecological conditions. Data were generated through in-depth semi-structured interviews with rural community members directly affected by environmental degradation, including participants whose daily activities and livelihood practices were shaped by changes in their surrounding environment, and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. To enhance research trustworthiness, the study employed prolonged engagement with participants, careful interview documentation, iterative coding, and reflexive interpretation throughout the analytical process. The findings show that environmental risk is normalized through daily exposure yet remains emotionally charged, shaping fear, anxiety, resignation, and moral negotiation between economic survival and ecological awareness. The analysis further reveals that environmental risk is experienced collectively through social relations and shared meaning-making, rather than solely as an individual perception. These findings advance understanding in environmental sociology by demonstrating that environmental risk is fundamentally a lived and meaningful experience, highlighting the importance of phenomenological approaches for future research on human–nature relationships.