SOC 270

About this course

This course provides an overview of the central debates in environmental sociology with a focus on environmental justice. We will examine the relationship between human societies and the natural environment as well as current environmental issues and relevant events from a sociological perspective. Some of the key questions that we will address are: ?How are pollution levels, waste management and resource depletion unequally distributed among racial and ethnic groups, classes, genders, regions and nations??, ?How do societies respond to environmental risks and disasters, and how can we achieve more effective and equitable policies??, ?What kind of environmental problems can be resolved at the individual level and which ones require community solutions??, and ?How does power these structures these relationships and the possibilities for organizing them differently??.