INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY

Prerequisites & course information

Requisites: None Course Designation: Core GenEd - Social & Behavioral Science Breadth - Social Science Level - Elementary L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Fall 2026 Learning Outcomes: 1. Understand how social science arguments are constructed and evaluated. Audience: Undergraduate 2. Learn and practice core elements of sociological reasoning, including making connections between a social phenomenon and its larger context; evaluating the “situated” nature of knowledge; and recognizing the paradigms, or knowledge frameworks, that structure our thinking about social issues. Audience: Undergraduate 3. Gain experience critically evaluating various sources of knowledge and data about social issues. Audience: Undergraduate 4. Become familiar with key concepts such as: “community,” “development,” “growth,” “economic security,” “environmental justice,” “sustainability,” “globalization,” and “neoliberalism;” learn how these concepts are involved in contemporary debates about what is fair, just, and desirable for the places where we live and the world as a whole. Audience: Undergraduate 5. Become familiar with important actors in the social processes that affect our communities and environment, including government, corporations, transnational institutions and social movements; also learn about historical shifts in the relationships among these actors. Audience: Undergraduate 6. Develop skills and frameworks for analyzing how social processes disparately affect different groups of people. Audience: Undergraduate 7. Make connections between sociological theories and concepts and your own experiences. Audience: Undergraduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Understand how social science arguments are constructed and evaluated. Audience: Undergraduate 2. Learn and practice core elements of sociological reasoning, including making connections between a social phenomenon and its larger context; evaluating the “situated” nature of knowledge; and recognizing the paradigms, or knowledge frameworks, that structure our thinking about social issues. Audience: Undergraduate 3. Gain experience critically evaluating various sources of knowledge and data about social issues. Audience: Undergraduate 4. Become familiar with key concepts such as: “community,” “development,” “growth,” “economic security,” “environmental justice,” “sustainability,” “globalization,” and “neoliberalism;” learn how these concepts are involved in contemporary debates about what is fair, just, and desirable for the places where we live and the world as a whole. Audience: Undergraduate 5. Become familiar with important actors in the social processes that affect our communities and environment, including government, corporations, transnational institutions and social movements; also learn about historical shifts in the relationships among these actors. Audience: Undergraduate 6. Develop skills and frameworks for analyzing how social processes disparately affect different groups of people. Audience: Undergraduate 7. Make connections between sociological theories and concepts and your own experiences. Audience: Undergraduate