SOC 3480 - Environmental Sociology

In this course we will take a social scientific approach to critically discuss and evaluate societal changes and their impact on local environmental conditions as well as the global ecosystem. We will primarily (but not exclusively) focus on structural issues in macro-comparative context since these are the professor's areas of expertise. Environmental sociology is a relatively diverse area that crosses trivial disciplinary boundaries-it would be impossible to introduce all its key theoretical perspectives and research agendas in one quarter. Thus, we will address some of the most salient macro-level human/environment topics in contemporary environmental degradation, contemporary theories in environmental sociology, systemic causes and social consequences of environmental disruption, collective responses to environmental disruption, global challenges to climate change policy, and the effects of globalization on environmental degradation (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, water pollution) and human well being (malnutrition, hunger, infant mortality). Indeed, we will see that the structural causes of environmental degradation and human suffering are often not mutually exclusive.