R SOC 450
Environmental Sociology
Fall 2026
Topics
- Utilize and critically compare sociological theories to explain contemporary environmental problems
- Apply concepts of environmental justice to analyze how environmental harms and benefits are unequally distributed
- Evaluate diverse approaches to environmental change, including state policy, market-based solutions, and social movement strategies
- Synthesize complex, competing arguments and communicate your own analysis persuasively in clear, evidence-based writing
Winter 2019
Topics
- Apply environmental sociology concepts, theories and evidence in the design of potential improvements or solutions to an environmental problem
Readings
- Dunlap, Riley E. 2015. “Environmental Sociology.” Pp. 796-803 in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (2nd Ed.), edited by James D. Wright. Oxford: Elsevier
- Laszewski, Chuck. 2008. “The Sociologists’ Take on the Environment.” Contexts 7(2):20-24
- Leiserowitz, Anthony A., and Lisa O. Fernandez. 2008. Toward a New Consciousness: Values to Sustain Human and Natural Communities. A Synthesis of Insights and Recommendations from the 2007 Yale F&ES Conference. New Haven, CT: Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. (pp. 35-52)
- 0001/acprof-9780199356102-chapter-10ISBN 9780199356102
- Gifford, Robert. 2011. “The Dragons of Inaction: Psychological Barriers that Limit Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation.” American Psychologist 66(4):290-302
- Kollmuss, Anja, and Agyeman, Julian. 2002. “Mind the Gap: Why do People Act Environmentally and What are the Barriers to Pro-Environmental Behavior?” Environmental Education Research 8(3):239-260
- 0001/acprof-9780199356102-chapter-4ISBN 9780199356102
- Mol, Arthur and Gert Spaargaren, David Sonnenfeld, 2014. Ch. 1, “Ecological Modernization Theory: Taking Stock, Moving Forward” Pp. 15-30 in S. Lockie, D.A. Sonnenfeld and D. Fisher (Eds), Routledge International Handbook of Social and Environmental Change, London: Routledge
- York, Richard, and Eugene A. Rosa. 2003. “Key Challenges to Ecological Modernization Theory: Institutional Efficacy, Case Study Evidence, Units of Analysis, and the Pace of Eco-Efficiency.” Organization and Environment 16(3):273-288
- Salmón, Enrique. 2000. “Kincentric Ecology: Indigenous Perceptions of the Human-Nature Relationship.” Ecological Applications 10(5):1327-1332
- Albrecht, Glen, Gina-Maree Sartore, Linda Connor, Nick Higginbotham, Sonia Freeman, Brian Kelly, Hele Stain, Anne Tonna and Georgia Pollard. 2007. “Solastalgia: The Distress Caused by Environmental Change.” Australian Psychiatry 15:95-98
- Ford, James D., Tristan Pearce, Frank Duerden, Chris Furgal, and Barry Smit. 2010. “Climate Change
- Dietz, Thomas, Elinor Ostrom, and Paul C. Stern. 2003. “The Struggle to Govern the Commons.” Science 302 (5652):1907-1912
- Tipa, Gail, and Richard Welch. 2006. “Comanagement of Natural Resources: Issues Definition from an Indigenous Community Perspective.” The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 42(3):373-391
- Mohai, Paul, David Pellow, and J. Timmons Roberts. 2009. "Environmental Justice." Annual Review of Environment & Resources 34(1):405-430
- Caniglia, Beth Schaefer, Robert J. Brulle, and Andrew Szasz. 2015. “Civil Society, Social Movements, and Climate Change.” Pp. 235-268 in Climate Change and Society: Sociological Perspectives, edited by R.E. Dunlap and R.J. Brulle. New York: Oxford University Press
- Wotherspoon, Terry and John Hansen. 2013. “The ‘Idle No More’ Movement: Paradoxes of First Nations Inclusion in the Canadian Context.” Social Inclusion 1(1):21-36
- ISBN 0080970868
- ISBN 9780203773536
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- R SOC 450 ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY / R SOC 650 ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY · Reading-list link; contents not retrieved ↗
- R SOC 450 ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY / R SOC 650 ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY · Reading-list link; contents not retrieved ↗
- 2017-Winter-R-SOC-450-LECTURE-X50 ↗2017
- 2018-Winter-R-SOC-450-LECTURE-X50 ↗2018
- 2019-Winter-R-SOC-450-LECTURE-X50 ↗2019
- 2026-Fall-R-SOC-450-LECTURE-A1 ↗2026
- Additional readings are supplied through the course LMS. Partial automated extraction.
- Additional readings are supplied through the course LMS. Partial automated extraction.