Sociology of the Environment and Ecology

An overview of various aspects, approaches, key issues, and case studies relevant to the sociology of the environment and environmental issues, focusing on overlaps between the sociological perspective or imagination and ecological thinking. This course covers the basic facts of major environmental issues, both local (such as Fresh Kills, Love Canal, and cancer rates and pollution on Staten Island and Long Island) and global (such as the Deepwater Horizon disaster, industrialized food production, and citizens’ movements for environmental awareness) as, in part, social justice issues. Importantly, this course in Environmental Sociology will focus on the roles played by class, the market, labor interests, social geography, race, gender, and colonialism in the development, classification, and treatment of environmental problems.

Fall, Spring

032839