Spring 2020  |  SOC 4305 Section 001: Environment & Society: An Enduring Conflict (54730)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Lecture
Credits:
3 Credits
Grading Basis:
Student Option
Instructor Consent:
No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
In Person Term Based
Class Attributes:
UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
01/21/2020 - 05/04/2020
Tue, Thu 11:15AM - 12:30PM
UMTC, West Bank
Blegen Hall 155
Enrollment Status:
Open (21 of 55 seats filled)
Also Offered:
Course Catalog Description:
Examines the interaction between human society and the natural environment, focusing on the contemporary and global situation. Takes the perspective of environmental sociology concerning the short-range profit-driven and ideological causes of ecological destruction. Investigates how society is reacting to that increasing destruction prereq: 1001 recommended or a course on the environment, soc majors/minors must register A-F
Class Notes:
Click this link for more detailed information: http://classinfo.umn.edu/?broad001+SOC4305+Spring2020
Class Description:
The human species has exerted a large and increasing influence upon its surrounding natural environment. In last two hundred years, this influence has mushroomed. The human population has multiplied enormously, as has its consumerism and its use of technology to extract resources and dump waste back into the environment. Our planet is like a spaceship, "Spaceship Earth;" it can only support a limited amount of human activities. Human society is now pushing the limits of the planetary ecological systems. Our impact is so strong that our current geological era is now called the Anthropocene--the era of humans being the most powerful ecological influence. We are causing massive degradation of the water, land, atmosphere and extinction of other species.

Core questions for this class - Why is it so difficult for human society to learn to live with the limits imposed by the ecological systems of the planet? What fundamental changes do we need to make in order to create a type of human society that can co-exist with a healthy ecology for a long time? These are the basic questions asked by Environmental Sociology, the basis of this course. Growth of population, increasing affluence and more effective extractive technology are the immediate material factors of our devastating impact on the environment. But beyond these material factors lie many social causes. Human society has a strong tendency to ignore environmental problems. These denial tendencies are caused by sociological factors such as social organization, political processes, profit-hungry economic production, insatiable consumer demand, and beliefs that ignore science and disregard the environment. The course examines these various sociological factors that drive our environmental impact and considers ways they might be changed to create a more sustainable form of society.
Who Should Take This Class?:
Those with an interest in the sustainability of humanity
Learning Objectives:
Study the interaction patterns between human society and the natural and built environment.
Grading:
Student presentations, exercises, quizzes, midterm and final exam.
Exam Format:
Multiple choice questions and short essays
Class Format:
Lecture and discussion
Workload:
30 pages of reading per week plus occasional exercises and student group presentations.
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/54730/1203
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
24 October 2017

ClassInfo Links - Spring 2020 Sociology Classes

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