Fall 2014  |  SOC 4305 Section 001: Environment & Society: An Enduring Conflict (34387)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Lecture
Credits:
3 Credits
Grading Basis:
A-F or Audit
Instructor Consent:
No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
In Person Term Based
Class Attributes:
UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
Meets With:
GLOS 4305 Section 001
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
09/02/2014 - 12/10/2014
Wed 06:00PM - 08:30PM
UMTC, West Bank
Blegen Hall 105
Also Offered:
Course Catalog Description:
Examines how natural/built environments influence human behavior/social organization. Focuses on microenvironments/their influence on individuals. Impact of macroenvironments on societal organization. Environmental movements.
Class Description:
This course introduces students to the theoretical and historical foundations of environmental sociology and environmental social sciences more broadly. We will examine and interrogate the social scientific and scientific evidence concerning these phenomena and the efforts by community residents, activists, workers, and governments to combat it. We will consider the ways in which human and nonhuman forces interact, collide, collaborate and are indeed inseparable. Students will be expected to master social scientific theories and concepts related to the subject matter. In particular, we pay close attention to the ways in which concepts like nature, environment, economy, society, humanity, culture, and the state intersect and shape one another in order to better understand how social and natural systems are constructed, reinforced, and challenged. Questions we will pursue include: how do humans and nonhuman forces work together and why are they so often in conflict? What is the relationship between social hierarchies within human society and myriad impacts on ecosystems? How do we as individuals and groups contribute to ecological harm and how might we be a part of solutions to socioenvironmental crises? Furthermore, students will be exposed to key concepts, theories, and perspectives from outside the social sciences, including climate science, entomology, geochemistry, biology, plant and animal science, earth science and geology, physics, history, public health, genomics, and epidemiology. Studying the relationship between human society and the nonhuman environment is fundamentally an ethical issue and a matter of shared responsibility because it reveals the ways that our everyday activities and the public policies our elected officials enact have real consequences for the health of humans and the ecosystems upon which we depend. We will consider and debate evidence and perspectives from the social sciences and sciences on this matter with an eye toward inculcating the importance of students acting as historical agents of change in the quest for improvements in knowledge, scholarship, and action toward sustainability. In that regard, the class will place particular emphasis on connecting knowledge and practice by requiring students to 1) complete writing assignments and in-class exercises that demonstrate an understanding of the links between the articulation and application of theories and major intellectual ideas in the field of environmental studies; and 2) complete a major class project that allows you the freedom to apply your knowledge in the form of a term paper, a community engagement activity, or a creative pursuit.
Grading:
20% Midterm Exam
20% Final Exam
20% Reports/Papers
20% Special Projects
10% Quizzes
5% Attendance
5% Class Participation
Exam Format:
Take-home, open book, open note, essays.
Class Format:
50% Lecture
10% Film/Video
15% Discussion
15% Small Group Activities
5% Student Presentations
5% Guest Speakers service learning option is available
Workload:
80-100 Pages Reading Per Week
20 Pages Writing Per Term
2 Exam(s)
1 Paper(s)
1 Special Project(s)
2 Quiz(zes)
Other Workload: The Paper is the Special Project The page count above includes 2 take-home exams that are open book and open note.
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/34387/1149
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
5 May 2014

ClassInfo Links - Fall 2014 Sociology Classes

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