Sociology 5161, Section 002
Inequality, Democracy, and the Environment
Fall 2005
Wednesdays 7:00 – 10:00
Professor: Liam Downey, Ph.D.
Office/Phone: Ketchum 218A, 303-492-8626
E-mail: Liam.Downey@colorado.edu
Course URL: http://socsci.colorado.edu/~downeyl/ide/syllabus.html
Office Hours: M,W 11:00-12:30 and by appointment
IF YOU MISS EITHER OF THE FIRST TWO CLASSES YOU WILL BE DROPPED FROM THE COURSE
Course description and goals: I developed this course because of my overriding interest in the relationship between inequality, democracy, and the environment and because of my concern that environmental sociology students in our department are not developing a strong enough structural understanding of environmental issues. In order to develop such an understanding, this course will examine the relationship between a) inequality and democratic decision making in the United States (political and economic decision making), b) undemocratic decision making and U.S. and corporate food and energy policy, c) food and energy policy on the one hand and global environmental degradation, terrorism, and war on the other, and d) undemocratic corporate and U.S. decision making on the one hand and underdeveloped nation democracy and state failure on the other. These factors are all structurally inter-related, and one of the things I would like to do this semester is to work as a class to develop new theoretical models that tie these factors together in new ways.
In addition, I would like to spend some time addressing the following questions: What are the basic building blocks of society? How do they fit together? What kind of society would we like to live in? How can we achieve such a society? How can we overcome or drastically reduce the serious environmental problems we face? Are the types of solutions proposed by mainstream environmentalists likely to succeed? If not, why not and what should be done instead?
This is clearly a lot of ground to cover and as a result we will be doing a lot of reading this semester. Some of this reading will be drawn from environmental studies and environmental sociology, but much of it will be drawn from other sociological and non-sociological subfields. For example, we will spend a week learning about the sociology of markets and a couple of weeks learning about political sociology. It is my contention that we cannot understand environmental problems, nor develop solutions to these problems, without a firm grounding in these seemingly non-environmental sociological subfields. It is also my contention that for environmental sociologists to succeed professionally, they have to develop a firm grounding in non-environmental sociological subfields such as these.
Finally, I am very excited about teaching this class and hope that we all have a good semester!!!
Required Readings: The required readings are listed below. We will be reading 3 books (available at the book store) as well as journal articles and book excerpts. You can find a link to the journal articles and book excerpts on the on-line syllabus (see the URL listed above). Most weeks you are required to do all the readings. However, there may be some weeks where we will divide the readings amongst ourselves so that we can cover more material.
Books available at the bookstore:
Hawken, Paul, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins. 1999. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. New York: Back Bay Books.
Speth, James Gustave. 2004. Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Klare, Michael T. 2004. Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum. New York: Metropolitan Books.
Evaluation: Your grade in this course will be based upon the following:
Due Date % of Grade
1. Weekly article summaries Tuesdays, 1:00 p.m. 35%
2. Class Participation All semester 15%
3. Final Exam Thursday, Dec. 14, 9:00 a.m. 50%
Weekly article summaries: Each week, each student will be responsible for a brief summary of all the readings (one page, double spaced, total) and a brief set of comments or questions about the readings (1/2 to 1 page total). You must submit this to me, either in my mailbox or via e-mail, by 1:00 p.m. on the Tuesday before class.
Class participation: Class participation is crucial in a graduate seminar. Participation involves taking part in class discussions and asking and answering questions in class in such a way as to indicate to me that you have done the reading and are actively engaged with the material. To receive participation credit you must contribute to class discussion regularly throughout the semester and your comments must be thoughtful and insightful. In other words, quality is just as important as quantity.
Final Exam: The final exam will be a take home exam in which I will ask you one or two questions that will allow you to synthesize the material we have covered during the semester. I will ask you to write a total of between 15 and 20 pages, double spaced, and I may give you the option of developing one of your own exam questions. The exam will be due on Thursday, Dec. 14th at 9:00 a.m., and I will give you the questions no later than Dec. 9th. You must turn in a paper version of your exam. I will not print your exam for you.
Additional course requirements:
1. Students are responsible for reading all the assigned books and articles.
2. Class attendance is mandatory and expected of all students.
3. Class participation is expected. Class participation makes up 15% of your grade.
Weekly Topics and Readings
Week1 (Aug. 24): Course introduction
Week 2 (Aug. 31): The issues
Important questions:
A) What are the most important global environmental problems? How have the environmental problems and political hurdles environmentalists face changed over the last 30 years? What different forms can inequality take? How much inequality exists in this country and the world?
B) What are the basic building blocks of society? How do they fit together? What kind of society would we like to live in? How can we achieve such a society? How can we overcome or drastically reduce the serious environmental problems we face?
Speth, James Gustave. 2004. Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment. New Haven: Yale University Press. Pp. 13-36, 43-73.
Hawken, Paul, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins. 1999. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. New York: Back Bay Books. Pp. 144-156, 190-198.
Klare, Michael T. 2004. Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum. New York: Metropolitan Books. Pp. xi-xvi., 7-10
Kerbo, Harold R. 2003. Social Stratification and Inequality. New York: McGraw-Hill. Pp. 21-47.
Anderson, Sarah and John Cavanagh. 2000. Top 200: The Rise of Corporate Global Power. Washington, DC: Institute for Policy Studies. Read key findings and the tables.
The U.N. Human Development Report 1997, Pp. 15-20
The U.N. Human Development Report 2001, Pp. 9-10
The U.N. Human Development Report 2004, Pp. 127-138, skim 139-155
Week 3 (Sept. 7): Environmental Economics
Important questions:
A) What is the purpose of the economy? What should its purpose be? Is our economy really efficient? Does it produce/create what humans and societies really need? What would an ideal/efficient economy look like? What would it produce?
B) What is democracy? What is the purpose of democracy? What should its purpose be? What is the purpose of social theory? What should its purpose be? Is it merely a guide to understanding the world? Or should it provide us with guidance on how to achieve our economic and democratic goals?
C) What solutions to the environmental crisis do the authors discuss (technological, economic bookkeeping)?
Hawken, Paul, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins. 1999. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. New York: Back Bay Books. Pp. 1-11, 22-29, 48-61, 62-73, 82-94, 156-169, 170-178, .288-308.
Costanza et al. 1997. “The Value of the World’s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital”, Nature. Vol. 387, pp. 253-260.
Daly, Herman. 1996. Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development. Boston: Beacon Press. Pp. 27-37.
Cobb, Clifford, Ted Halstead, and Jonathon Rowe 1995. “If the GDP is Up, Why is America Down?” Atlantic Monthly, vol. 276(4): 59-73, plus the attached chart.
Boyce, James. 2002. The political Economy of the Environment. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. Pp. 1-11
Pateman, Carole. 1970. Participation and Democratic Theory. New York: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 1-11, 22-27, and 42-43.
Week 4 (Sept. 14): Environmental Economics and Markets
Important questions:
A) What is the purpose of the economy? What should its purpose be? Is our economy really efficient? Does it produce/create what humans and societies really need? What would an ideal/efficient economy look like? What would it produce?
B) What is environmental/ecological economics? Given what we know about the structure of markets and the forces that structure markets, is it likely that the proposals set forth by environmental economists will be adopted? If they are adopted, will they reduce or eliminate environmental degradation?
C) What is the precautionary principle? Why is it important? How would it change how individuals, companies, and governments do business? How likely is it that the precautionary principle will be adopted in the U.S.? Why is it more likely to be adopted in Europe than the U.S.?
D) What do social structures of accumulation have to do with the environment?
Thampapillai, Dodo. 2002. Environmental Economics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 15-25, 33-37.
Costanza et al. 1997. An Introduction to Ecological Economics. Boca Raton, FL: St. Lucie Press. Pp. 185-186, 192-217, 222-228.
Daly, Herman. 1996. Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development. Boston: Beacon Press. Pp. 45-57, 61-65, 75-76, 80-82.
Rikfin, Jeremy. 2004. “A Precautionary Tale”. The Guardian, May 12.
Sunstein, Cass R. 2004. The Second Bill of Rights: FDR’s Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need it More than Ever Before. New York: Basic Books. Pp. 17-25.
Fligstein, Neil. 2001. The Architecture of Markets: An Economic Sociology of Twenty-First-Century Capitalist Societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Pp. 1-28, bottom of 32– 47, 56-62, 64-66.
Gordon, David M., Richard Edwards, and Michael Reich. 1982. “Segmented Work, Divided Workers.” New York: Cambridge University Press. Read pages ix-xii, 1-34.
Week 5 (Sept. 21): Political Sociology
Important questions: What is power? What is the relationship between the economy, civil society, and the state? What is the relationship between economic and political inequality? What does political sociology imply about democracy? Who rules in the United States? Was Weber right or Marx?
Gaventa, John. 1980. Power and Powerlessness: Quiescence and Rebellion in an Appalachian Valley. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. Pp. 3-20.
Neubeck, Kenneth J. and Davita Silfen Glasberg. Sociology: Diversity, Conflict, and Change. New York: McGraw Hill. Pp. 334-337.
Skocpol, Theda. 1980. “Political Response to Capitalist Crisis: Neo-Marxist Theories of the State and the Case of the New Deal”. Politics and Society 10(2): 155-201. Selected pages.
Skocpol, Theda. 1985. “Bringing the State Back In: Strategies of Analysis in Current Research”, pp. 3-37 in Evans, Peter and Dietrich Rueschemeyer (Eds.) Bringing the State Back In. New York: Cambridge University Press. Selected pages.
Steinmo, Sven. 1989. “Political Institutions and Tax Policy in the United States, Sweden, and Britain”. World Politics 41(4): 500-535. Selected pages.
Loewenberg, Samuel. 2004. “Old Europe’s New Ideas”. Sierra Magazine. Jan-Feb.
Jenkins, J. Craig and Barbara Brents. 1989. “Social Protest, Hegemonic Competition, and Social Reform: A Political Struggle Interpretation of the Origins of the American Welfare State”. American Sociological Review 54: 891-909. Read pages 891-895 and 905-907.
Domhoff, G. William. Synopsis of Who Rules America.
Domhoff, G. William. The Power Elite and the State: How Policy is Made in America. New York: Aldine de Gruyter. Pp. xiii-xix, 20-24, 26-28, 37-40, and 257-264.
Week 6 (Sept. 28): More Political Sociology
Important questions:
A) What is power? What is the relationship between the economy, civil society, and the state? What is the relationship between economic and political inequality? What does political sociology imply about democracy? Who rules in the United States? Was Weber right or Marx?
B) How does Sklair extend Domhoff’s and other theorists’ ideas? Is there a transnational capitalist class? What are the structural relations between the transnational capitalist class and other social and organizational actors? How does the transnational capitalist class ensure its continued economic and political success?
C) Isn’t Mann incredible!!! What does his theory imply about social change and about how to effect social change? What is his theory?
D) What do any of these theories and readings have to do with the environment?
Mann, Michael. The Sources of Social Power Volume 1: A History of Power from the Beginning to A.D. 1760. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 1-33
Sklair, Leslie. 2001. The Transnational Capitalist Class. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Inc. Pp. 1-51, 73-76.
Domhoff, G. William. The Power Elite and the State: How Policy is Made in America. New York: Aldine de Gruyter. Pp. 107-138, 144-147, 153-166, 181-186.
Week7 (Oct. 5): International Trade Organizations and Property Rights Law 1
Important questions:
A) What is the relationship between domestic and global inequality and global environmental degradation, terrorism, war, underdeveloped and developed nation democracy, and state failure? What are the structural links between economic and political actors around the world? How do international trade agreements affect the environment?
B) Is globalization beneficial? Is globalization inevitable? Is the form globalization takes inevitable? Does the degree to which it is beneficial depend on the form it takes?
Stiglitz, Joseph. 2003. Globalization and Its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Pp. ix-xvi, 3-22, 53-67, 73-75.
Bello, Walden. 1999. Dark Victory: The United States and Global Poverty. Oakland: Pluto Press. Pp. 7-9, 18-35, 51-71, appendices optional.
Wallach, Lori and Patrick Woodall. 2004. Whose Trade Organization: A Comprehensive Guide to the WTO. Pp. 239-253, 19-30, 36-50, 158-161, 163-165.
Rege, Vinod. 1998. “Developing Countries and Negotiations in the WTO”. Third World Economics, no. 191, August.
Jones, Kent. 2004. Who’s Afraid of the WTO? Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. vii-viii, 3-7, 10-12, 33-37, 39-45, 48-54, 58-62, 66-67, 71-85 (main text only), 88-96, 98 (first paragraph), 99-101, 102-103.
Week 8 (Oct. 12): International Trade Organizations and Property Rights Law 2
***We may want to reschedule this class***
Important questions: What is the relationship between local, state, and national governments and world and regional trade organizations and agreements? How will the erosion of prevailing property rights law affect U.S. citizens? How do international trade agreements affect the environment? Do U.S. citizens share a similar structural position vis a vis corporations, governments, and international organizations as do citizens of other nations?
Greider, William. 2001. “The Right and U.S. Trade Law: Invalidating the 20th Century”. The Nation.
Greider, William. 2001. “Sovereign Corporations”. The Nation.
Dreiling, Michael. 2001. Solidarity and Contention: The Politics of Security and Sustainability in the NAFTA Conflict. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc. Pp. 87-111.
Dreiling, Michael. 2000. “The Class Embeddedness of Corporate Political Action: Leadership in Defense of the NAFTA”. Social Problems, Vol. 47(1): 21-48.
Cameron, Maxwell A. and Brian W. Tomlin. 2000. The Making of NAFTA: How the Deal Was Done. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Pp. 15-17 and 225-227.
Barlow, Maude and Tony Clarke. 2002. “Who Owns Water?” The Nation (September 2).
Finnegan, William. 2002. “Leasing the Rain”. The New Yorker (April 8).
Shiva, Vandana and Radha Holla-Bhar. 1996. “Piracy by Patent: The Case of the Neem Tree”. Pp. 146-159 in Mander, Jerry and Edward Goldsmith (Eds.) The Case Against the Global Economy. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books
Kimbrell, Andrew. 1996. “Biocolonization: The Patenting of Life and the Global Market in Body Parts”. Pp. 131-145 in Mander, Jerry and Edward Goldsmith (Eds.) The Case Against the Global Economy. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books
Week 9 (Oct. 19): Agriculture 1
Important questions:
A) What environmental impacts does agriculture have? Can the environmental problems brought about by agriculture be overcome with technological change and changes in consumer behavior? In other words, how easy will it be to change corporate and consumer behavior?
B) How is the agricultural industry structured? How does its structure affect farmer, consumer, and corporate behavior? How does corporate, consumer, and government behavior affect the structure of agriculture? Are farmer, consumer, and corporate behavior so determined by the structure of the agricultural industry that the entire structure has to change before consumer and farmer behavior can change? If so, how do we get this structure to change?
C) How does the structure of the agricultural industry tie us to farmers and consumers around the world? Does it put the average U.S. citizen in a position of being an exploiter (in the Marxist sense) of underdeveloped nation labor?
Hawken, Paul, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins. 1999. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. New York: Back Bay Books. Pp. 190-212, 234-245
Silverstein, Ken. 2000. “Meat Factories”. Sierra Magazine.
Ladd, Anthony E. and Bob Edwards. Manuscript. “Corporate Swine and Capitalists Pigs: A Decade of Environmental Injustice and Protest in North Carolina”. Pp. 1-6.
Heffernan, William D. 2000. “Concentration of Ownership and Control in Agriculture”, in Magdoff, Fred, John Bellamy Foster, and Frederick H. Buttel (Eds.) Hungry for Profit: The Agribusiness Threat to Farmers, Food, and the Environment, Pp. 61-76.
Heffernan, William, Mary Hendrickson, and Robert Gronski. 1999. “Consolidation in the Food and Agriculture System”. Report to the National Farmers Union.
Heffernan, William and Mary Hendrickson. 2005. “Fact Sheet on Corporate Concentration in Agriculture”.
Welsh, Rick. 1997. “Reorganizing U.S. Agriculture: The Rise of Industrial Agriculture and Direct Marketing”. Report published by the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture. Pp. 12-18.
Lewontin, R. C. 2000. “The Maturing of Capitalist Agriculture: Farmer as Proletarian” in Magdoff, Fred, John Bellamy Foster, and Frederick H. Buttel (Eds.) Hungry for Profit: The Agribusiness Threat to Farmers, Food, and the Environment, Pp. 93-106.
Vorley, Bill. 2004. Food Inc: Corporate Concentration from Farm to Consumer. Report produced by the UK Food Group. Pp. 10-27.
Week 10 (Oct. 26): Agriculture 2
Important questions: See the questions from the previous week.
Hendrickson, Mary, William Heffernan, Philip Howard, and Judith Heffernan. 2001. “Consolidation in Food Retailing and Dairy: Implications for Farmers and Consumers in a Global Food System”. Report to the National Farmers Union.
Cook, Christopher D. Diet for a Dead Planet: How the Food Industry is Killing Us. New York: The New Press. Pp. 12-16 and 20-22.
Schlosser. Fast Food Nation. Pages, 42-57, Chapter 5 and pages 133-147.
Vorley, Bill. 2004. Food Inc: Corporate Concentration from Farm to Consumer. Report produced by the UK Food Group. Pp. 28-30, skim 31-38
Little, Peter D. and Catherine S. Dolan. 2000. “What it Means to be Restructured: Nontraditional Commodities and Structural Adjustment in Sub-Saharan Africa”, in Haugerud, M. Priscilla Stone, and Peter D. Little (Eds.) Commodities and Globalization: Anthropological Perspectives. Boulder: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Pp. 59-78.
Collins, Jane L. 2000. “Tracing Social Relations in Commodity Chains: The Case of Grapes in Brazil”, in Haugerud, M. Priscilla Stone, and Peter D. Little (Eds.) Commodities and Globalization: Anthropological Perspectives. Boulder: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Pp. 97-109.
Hellin, Jon and Sophie Higman. 2003. Feeding the Market: South American Farmers, Trade and Globalization. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press, Inc. Pp. xi-xii, 1-35.
Week 11 (Nov. 2): Biotechnology
Important questions: Why are we eating biotech food? How is the use of biotechnology linked to the structure of the agricultural industry? Is biotechnology safe? What is the relationship between chemical companies, seed companies, agricultural processors, and the U.S. government? Do this week’s readings do a good jot of documenting these relationships? How do these relationships affect U.S. biotechnology policy?
Buttel, Fred. 1999. “Agricultural Biotechnology: Its Recent Evolution and Implications for Agrofood Political Economy”.
Buttel, Fred. 1999. “The ‘Gene Revolution’ in Global Perspective: A Reconsideration of the Global Adoption and Diffusion of GM Crop Varieties, 1996-2002”. Pg. 12.
Ervin, David et al. 2000. “Transgenic Crops: An Environmental Assessment”. Report published by the Henry A. Wallace Center for Agricultural & Environmental Policy at Winrock International. Pp. 4-9.
Commoner, Barry. 2002. “Unraveling the DNA Myth: The Spurious Foundation of Genetic Engineering”. Harper’s Magazine. February.
Smith, Jeffrey M. Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You’re Eating. Fairfield, IA: Yes! Books. Chapter 5, pp. 127-158.
Nabhan, Gary Paul. 2002. Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Pp. 172-187.
King, John L. 2001. “Concentration and Technology in Agricultural Input Industries”. Washington, DC: USDA. Pp. 1-12.
Wallach, Lori and Patrick Woodall. 2004. Whose Trade Organization: A Comprehensive Guide to the WTO. Chapter 7.
Mattera, Philip. 2004. “USDA Inc: How Agribusiness has Hijacked Regulatory Policy at the U.S. Department of Agriculture”. Washington, DC: Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First. Pp. 4, 10-18, 28.
Optional: Jauhar, Prem P. and Gurdev S. Khush. 2003. “Importance of Biotechnology in Global Food Security”, in Lal, Rattan, David Hansen, Norman Uphoff, and Steven Slack (Eds.) Food Security and Environmental Quality in the Developing World.
Week 12 (Nov. 9): Oil 1
Important questions: How is petroleum used in modern industrial societies? What environmental problems are caused by petroleum use? What is the relationship between domestic and global inequality and environmental degradation, terrorism, war, and underdeveloped nation democracy and state failure? What is the relationship between resource scarcity, war, and environmental degradation?
Klare, Michael T. 2004. Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum. New York: Metropolitan Books.
Read the preface and chapters 1-4.
Skim chapters 5-6.
Klare, Michael T. 2001. Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict. New York: Metropolitan Books.
Skim pp. 118-123, 131-136, 190-223.
Weeks 13 (Nov. 16): Oil 2
Important questions: What environmental problems are caused by petroleum use? What is the relationship between domestic and global inequality and environmental degradation, terrorism, war, underdeveloped nation democracy, and state failure? What is the relationship between resource scarcity, war, and environmental degradation? How likely are we to overcome our petroleum addiction? Is it simply a matter of changing consumer preferences and behavior or of corporations adopting new technologies? What are the environmental impacts of war? Can we stop fighting wars? Will the U.S. drastically reduce its armed power in order to reduce environmental devastation?
Klare, Michael T. 2004. Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum. New York: Metropolitan Books, chapter 7.
The Apollo Alliance Ten-Point Plan for Good Jobs and Energy Independence.
National Wildlife Federation. 2004. “Fueling Environmental Progress: National Energy Policy Leadership to Promote Wildlife Conservation, comments to the National Commission on Energy Policy”. Pp. 1-2, 14-30.
Bivens, Matt. 2002. “Fighting for America’s Energy Independence”. The Nation.
Hawken, Paul, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins. 1999. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. New York: Back Bay Books. Pp. 241-252 and 288-295.
Kimerling, Judith et al. 1991. Amazon Crude. Natural Resources Defense Council, skim selected pages.
Island Press. “The Environmental Impacts of War” (http://www.islandpress.org/eco-compass/war/index.html).
Johnson, Chalmers. 2000. Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire. New York: Henry Holt and Company. Pp. 43-52.
Clark, Ramsey. 1992. The Fire This Time: U.S. War Crimes in the Gulf. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, skim pp. 59-69, 94-108
Walljasper, Jay. 2005. “New Lessons from the Old World”. E Magazine. March-April. Vol. 16(2), pp. 26-33.
Rifkin, Jeremy. 2005. “The European Dream”. E Magazine. March-April. Vol. 16(2), pp. 34-39.
Week 14 (Nov. 23): Thanksgiving Holiday
Week 15 (Nov. 30): Solutions and Theory 1
Important questions:
A) What solutions to the looming environmental catastrophe does Speth offer? Do these solutions have a reasonable chance of success?
B) Does environmental sociology do a good job of explaining the forces responsible for environmental degradation? Does it point to any reasonable solutions to the problems of environmental degradation?
Speth, James Gustave. 2004. Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment. New Haven: Yale University Press. Chapters 4-10.
Goldman, Michael and Rachel A. Schurman. 2000. “Closing the ‘Great Divide’: New Social Theory on Society and Nature”. Annual Review of Sociology. Vol. 26: 563-584.
Week 16 (Dec. 7): Solutions and Theory 2
Important questions:
A) What solutions to the looming environmental catastrophe do these week’s authors offer? Do these solutions have a reasonable chance of success?
B) Does environmental sociology do a good job of explaining the forces responsible for environmental degradation? Does it point to any reasonable solutions to the problems of environmental degradation?
C) Does Marxist thinking help us understand environmental problems and the structural forces causing those problems?
D) What will it take to overcome the looming environmental catastrophe?
Brulle, Robert H. 2000. Agency, Democracy, and Nature: The U.S. Environmental Movement from a Critical Theory Perspective. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Read 1-29, 49-73, 269-282.
Optional: 30-48.
Three brief readings on Marx: Hughes, Carib, and McIntosh
Dickens, Peter. 2002. “A Green Marxism? Labor Processes, Alienation, and the Division of Labor”, pp. 51-73 in Dunlap et al. (Eds.), Sociological Theory and the Environment: Classical Foundations, Contemporary Insights. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Roberts, J. Timmons and Peter E. Grimes. 2002. “World-System Theory and the Environment: Toward a New Synthesis”, pp. 167-194 in Dunlap et al. (Eds.), Sociological Theory and the Environment: Classical Foundations, Contemporary Insights. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Read pp. 167-168 and 172-184.
Bradshaw, York W. and Michael Wallace. Global Inequalities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press. Pp. 39-53.
Chirot, Daniel and Thomas D. Hall. 1982. “World-System Theory”. Annual Review of Sociology. Vol. 8: 81-106. Read 81-87.
Jorgensen, Joseph G. 1978. “A Century of Political Economic Effects on American Indian Society, 1880-1980”. The Journal of Ethnic Studies. Vol. 6(3). Read pp. 2-5.