everything.study
R SOC 665

Sociology of Environment and Development

3 units

Fall 2026

Topics

  • Gain an understanding of key economic and sociological approaches to environment and development
  • Develop a critical and historical understanding of sustainable development discourse and its major critiques
  • Identify how poverty, wealth, geography, race, gender, colonialism, and political economy shape environmental outcomes
  • Apply sociological theories such as ecological modernization, treadmill of production, political ecology, and environmental justice to concrete case studies
  • Develop research, synthesis, and writing skills through a staged final paper process

Readings

  • Gunter Frank, A. (1966) The Development of Underdevelopment Monthly Review Press
    recommended
  • Amin, S. (1976). Unequal development. New York: Monthly Review Press. Topic: Treadmill of Production – Week 8
    recommended
  • Buttel, F. H. 2004. “The Treadmill of Production.” Organization & Environment 17(3): 323–336
    recommended
  • Mol, Arthur P. J., and Frederick H. Buttel, eds. 2002. The Environmental State Under Pressure. Topic: Ecological Modernization – Week 9
    recommended
  • Mol, A. P. J., & Spaargaren, G. (2000). Ecological modernisation theory in debate: A review. Environmental Politics, 9(1), 17–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644010008414511 ↗
    recommended
  • Ewing, Jeffrey A. 2017. “Hollow Ecology: Ecological Modernization Theory and the Death of Nature.” Journal of World-Systems Research 23(1): 126–155
    recommended
  • Buttel, F. H. (2000). Ecological modernization as social theory. Geoforum, 31(1), 57-65
    recommended
  • Carolan, Michael S. 2004. “Ecological Modernization Theory: What About Consumption?” Society & Natural
    recommended
  • Crutzen, P. J. (2006). The “anthropocene”. In Earth system science in the anthropocene (pp. 13-18). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
    unspecified
  • Malm, A., & Hornborg, A. (2014). The geology of mankind? A critique of the Anthropocene narrative. The anthropocene review, 1(1), 62-69
    unspecified
  • Moore, J. W. (Ed.). (2016). Anthropocene or capitalocene?: Nature, history, and the crisis of capitalism. PM press. Week 11: READING WEEK – NO CLASSES Topic: Metabolic Rift – Week 11 John Bellamy Foster “Marx’s Theory of Metabolic Rift: Classical Foundations for Environmental Sociology” American Journal of Sociology 105(2): 366-405
    recommended
  • John Bellamy Foster “Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature” New York University Press. (2000) John Bellamy Foster “The vulnerable planet: A short economic history of the environment” (1999) New York University Press Topic: Global Environmental Justice and Research Paper support – Week 12
    recommended
  • Dong, Z., Wang, B., & Shao, C. (2025). The historical evolution and modernization path of China’s ecological and environmental governance. Energy & Environmental Sustainability, 1(2), 100014
    recommended
  • Ajl, Max. 2023. “Theories of Political Ecology: Monopoly Capital Against People and the Planet.” Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy 12(1): 12–50
    recommended
  • Taylor, M. (2022). Climate change and development. In H. Veltmeyer & P. Bowles (Eds.), The Essential Guide to Critical Development Studies (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 311–318). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003037187-46 ↗
    recommended
  • Sachs, J. (2022). Sustainable development report 2022. Cambridge University Press
    recommended
Sources