Environmental Sociology -- Soc 865Michigan State University -- Fall 1999Prof. Alan Rudy w/ Prof. Angela MertigTuesdays 1:50-4:40pm, 115 Berkey HallThis weekly seminar will survey environmental sociology, emphasizing the diversity of contemporary theories of nature-society relations. The course will explore the diverse forms of social organization and complex modes of social thought which generate ecological transformation and respond to ecological crises. Further, social and natural scientific assumptions about environmental conditions, change and crisis will be reviewed. Readings will be taken from sociological, geographical, philosophical, economic, ecological and social movements sources. At present, the course gives short, or no, shrift to Deep Ecology --
in its many forms, the Sociology of Risk, and recent work on Environmental
Modernization. Further, it can be seen to underplay issues of industrialization,
technology and pollution. It is expected that these latter issues will
arise again and again in the course of the seminar, while the former concerns
are likely to remain under-emphasized. Assignments:Expectations:Weekly Readings:
There is a good amount of work to do in this seminar – the discipline is vast and rich. FIRST: Each participant will be responsible for providing a critical overview (~3-4 pages) of the readings for at least one meeting during the semester – to which half of the seminar will then respond (1-2 pages). The initial piece is due Friday at 5pm and the responses are due Monday at 5pm. The initial critical overview and the responses will be distributed to all participants in the seminar by email. This process will allow us to have a shared and evolving series of questions and perspectives generated BEFORE the seminar. This way the professors do not wholly set the agenda and the intellectual conversation is already started before we gather. The goal is to reduce the amount of silence we experience and prodding the faculty have to do. Each meeting will begin with an oral response to the comments by the author of the critical overview. This will be followed by a short discussion during the course of which we will collectively set the agenda for the rest of the session. SECOND: After the first two weeks there are four "units" within this survey of environmental sociology. You will be asked to find an unassigned article connected to the topics within the "unit" and critically explore its argument using material and perspectives from the assigned readings and class discussions. These papers will be approximately 5 pages long. THIRD: The final assignment for the class
is the preparation of a question, and an answer, that might act as a part
of a comprehensive exam which included Environmental Sociology as a field.
Expectations:You can not do well in this class unless you are actively engaged in the seminar. Nevertheless, I am fully cognizant that some folks participate more during seminar meetings than others do. For those who speak less often in the seminar, your weekly written work will be of additional importance. While there is no absolute formula for grades...
the "unit papers" will combine to generate approximately forty percent
of the grade and the comprehensive question equivalent will generate
approximately another forty percent. The rest of the grade will
derive from participation and improvement. Improvement over the course
of the semester can count for a lot – though this is NOT advice to do
shoddy work at the start.
Weekly ReadingsWEEK 1. ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGYAssigned Readings:William R. Catton, Jr. and Riley E. Dunlap (1978) "Environmental Sociology: A New Paradigm." American Sociologist 13, 1, Feb., 41 49.Frederick H. Buttel (1978) "Environmental Sociology: A New Paradigm?" American Sociologist 13, 4, Nov., 252-256.Frederick H. Buttel (1987) "New Directions in Environmental Sociology." Annual Review of Sociology 13, 465-488.Riley E. Dunlap (1997) "The Evolution of Environmental Sociology: A Brief History and Assessment of the American Experience." Pp. 21-39 in M. Redclift and G. Woodgate (eds.) The International Handbook of Environmental Sociology. Edward Elgar. Allan Schnaiberg (1994) "The Political Economy of Environmental Problems and Policies: Consciousness, Conflict and Control Capacity." Advances in Human Ecology 3: 23-64. Environmental Sociology Suggested Readings:
WEEK 2. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICEAssigned Readings:Richard Moore and Louis Head (1993) "Acknowledging the Past, Confronting the Present: Environmental Justice in the 1990s." Pp. 118-127 in R. Hofrichter (ed.), Toxic Struggles: The Theory and Practice of Environmental Justice. New Society.Celene Krause (1993) "Women and Toxic Waste Protests: Race, Class and Gender as Resources of Resistance." Qualitative Sociology, 16, 3, 247-262.Giovanna Di Chiro (1998) "Environmental Justice from the Grassroots: Reflections on History, Gender and Expertise." Pp. 104-136 in D. Faber (ed.) The Struggle for Ecological Democracy: Environmental Justice Movements in the United States. Guilford.Douglas Bevington (1998) "Earth First! In Northern California: An Interview with Judi Bari." Pp. 248-271 in D. Faber (ed.) The Struggle for Ecological Democracy: Environmental Justice Movements in the United States. Guilford.Laura Pulido (1998) "Ecological Legitimacy and Cultural Essentialism: Hispano Grazing in the Southwest." Pp. 293-311 in D. Faber (ed.) The Struggle for Ecological Democracy: Environmental Justice Movements in the United States. Guilford.Environmental Justice Suggested Readings:
WEEK 3. THE IDEA OF NATUREAssigned Readings:R.G. Collingwood (1945) "Introduction" and "Conclusion." Pp. 1-27, 174-177 in The Idea of Nature. Oxford University Press.Clarence Glacken (1967) "Introductory Essay"s and "Conclusion." Pp. 3-33; 171-175; 355-374; 501-503; 706-713 in Traces on the Rhodean Shore. UC Press.Raymond Williams (1980) "Ideas of Nature." Pp. 67-85 in Problems in Materialism and Culture. Verso.Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin (1985) "Dialectics and Reductionism in Ecology." Pp. 132-160 in The Dialectical Biologist. Harvard University Press.Donald Worster (1990) "The Ecology of Order and Chaos." Environmental History Review 14 (1-2): 1-18.The Idea of Nature Suggested Readings:
WEEK 4. ECOFEMINISMAssigned Readings:Susan Griffin (1989) "Split Culture." Pp. 7-18 in J. Plant (ed.) Healing the Wounds: The Promise of Ecofeminism. New Society .Ynestra King (1989) "The Ecology of Feminism and the Feminism of Ecology." Pp. 18-28 in Judith Plant (ed.) Healing the Wounds: The Promise of Ecofeminism. New Society.Catherine Roach (1991) "Loving Your Mother: On the Woman-Nature Relation." Hypatia 6, 1 46-59.Ariel Salleh (1992) "The Ecofeminism/Deep Ecology Debate." Environmental Ethics, 14, Fall, 195-216.Mary Mellor (1994) "Building a New Vision: Feminist Green Socialism." Pp. 36-46 in R. Hofrichter (ed.) Toxic Struggles: The Theory and Practice of Environmental Justice. New Society.Ecofeminism Suggested Readings:
WEEK 5. SOCIAL ECOLOGYAssigned Readings:Murray Bookchin (1986[1971]) "Introduction(1)," "Introduction(2)," and "Post-Scarcity Anarchism." Pp. 11-76 in Post-Scarcity Anarchism, 2nd Ed. Black Rose.Murray Bookchin (1986) "What is Social Ecology?" Pp. 49-76 in The Modern Crisis. New Society.Andrew Light and Alan Rudy (1996) "Social Ecology and Social Labor: A Consideration and Critique of Murray Bookchin." Pp. 318-342 in D. Macauley (ed.) Minding Nature: The Philosophers of Ecology. Guilford Press.Joel Kovel (1998) "Negating Bookchin." Pp. 27-57 in A. Light (ed.) Social Ecology after Bookchin. Guilford.Social Ecology Suggested Readings:
WEEK 6. OVER-POPULATION/CONSUMPTION
David Harvey (1974) "Population, Resources and the Ideology of Science." Economic Geography 50, 256-277.Frances Moore Lappe and Rachel Schurman (1988) Taking Population Seriously. Food First.Gita Sen (1998) "Women, Poverty, and Population: Issues for the Concerned Environmentalist." Pp. 290-298 in K. Conca, M. Alberty, and G.D. Dabelko (eds.) Green Planet Blues, 2nd ed. Westview.Colin Sage (1994) "Population, Consumption and Sustainable Development." Pp. 35-59 in M. Redclift and C. Sage (eds.) Strategies for Sustainable Development. John Wiley & Sons.Saul E. Halfon (1997) "Overpopulating the World: Notes Toward a Discursive Reading." Pp. 121-148 in P.J. Taylor, S.E. Halfon and P.N. Edwards (eds.) Changing Life: Genomes Ecologies Bodies Commodities. Minnesota.Over-Population/Consumption Suggested Readings:
WEEK 7. TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONSAssigned Readings:Garrett Hardin (1968) "The Tragedy of the Commons." Science 162, 13, Dec., 1243-1248.Bonnie J. McCay and James M. Acheson (1987) "Human Ecology and the Commons." Pp. 1-34 in B.J. MacCay and J.M. Acheson (eds.) The Question of the Commons. Arizona.David Feeny et al. (1990) "The Tragedy of the Commons: Twenty-two Years Later." Human Ecology 18, 1, March, 1-19.John Vandermeer (1996) "Tragedy of the Commons: The Meaning of the Metaphor." Science and Society 60, 3, Fall, 290-306.Michael Goldman (1997) "'Customs in Common': The Epistemic World of the Commons Scholars." Theory and Society 26, 1, Feb., 1-37.Tragedy of the Commons Suggested Readings:
WEEK 8. ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYAssigned Readings:Alfred Crosby (1988) "Ecological Imperialism: The Overseas Migration of Western Europeans as a Biological Phenomenon." Pp. 103-117 in D. Worster (ed.) The Ends of the Earth. Cambridge.Arthur F. McEvoy (1987) "Toward an Interactive Theory of Nature and Culture: Ecology, Production, and Cognition in the California Fishing Industry." Environmental Review 11, Winter, 289-305.William Cronon (1993) "The Uses of Environmental History." Environmental History Review, 17, Fall, 1-22.Michael Williams (1994) "The Relations of Environmental History and Historical Geography." Journal of Historical Geography. 20, 1, 3-21.David Demeritt (1994) "Ecology, Objectivity and Critique in Writings on Nature and Human Societies." Journal of Historical Geography 20, 1, 22-37.Environmental History Suggested Readings:
WEEK 9. POLITICAL ECOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENTAssigned Readings:Brian Page and Richard Walker (1991) "From Settlement to Fordism: The Agro-industrial Revolution and the American Midwest." Economic Geography 67, 4, 281-315.R.L. Bryant (1992) "Political Ecology: An Emerging Research Agenda in Third-World Studies." Political Geography 11, 12-36.Arturo Escobar (1992) "Imagining a Post-Development Era? Critical Thought, Development and Social Movements." Social Text 31/32, 20-56.Roderick P. Neumann (1992) "Political Ecology of Wildlife Conservation in the Mt. Meru Area of Northeast Tanzania." Land Degradation & Rehabilitation 3, 2, July, 85-98.Richard Peet and Michael Watts (1996) "Development Theory and Environment in an Age of Market Triumphalism." Pp. 1-45 in Liberation Ecologies: Environment, Development, Social Movements. Routledge.Political Ecology Suggested Readings:
WEEK 10. THE PRODUCTION OF NATUREAssigned Readings:Neil Smith (1984) "The Ideology of Nature," "The Production of Nature" and "The Production of Space." Pp. 1-96 in Uneven Development: Nature, Capital and the Production of Space. Blackwell.Noel Castree (1995) "The Nature of Produced Nature: Materiality and Knowledge Construction in Marxism." Antipode 27, 1, 12-48.James O’Connor (1998) "Some Observations on Ecological Crisis," "The Conditions of Production and the Production of Conditions," and "The Second Contradiction of Capitalism." Pp. 135-178 in Natural Causes: Essay in Ecological Marxism. Guilford.Alan Rudy (1994) "On the Dialectics of Capitalism and Nature." Capitalism Nature Socialism 5, 2, June, 95-106.Production of Nature Suggested Readings:
WEEK 11. THE CONSTRUCTION OF NATUREAssigned Readings:Peter J. Taylor (1997) "How Do We Know We Have Global Environmental Problems?: Undifferentiated Science-Politics and Its Potential Reconstruction." Pp. 149-174 in P.J. Taylor, SE Halfon and P.N. Edwards (eds.) Changing Life: Genomes Ecologies Bodies Commodities. Minnesota.Donna Haraway (1991) "The Contest for Primate Nature: Daughters of Man-the-Hunter in the Field, 1960-80." Pp. 81-108 in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. Routledge.Elizabeth A.R. Bird (1987) "The Social Construction of Nature: Theoretical Approaches to the History of Environmental Problems." Environmental Review 11, 4, 255-264.David Demeritt (1998) "Science, Social Construction and Nature." Pp. 173-193 in B. Braun and N. Castree (eds.) Remaking Reality: Nature at the Millennium. Routledge.The Construction of Nature Suggested Readings:
WEEK 12. THE HYBRIDITY OF NATUREAssigned Readings:Donna Haraway (1991) "Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective." Pp. 183-201 in Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. Routledge.Kate Soper (1996) "Nature/nature." Pp. 22-34 in G. Robertson et al. (eds.) FutureNatural: Nature Science Culture. Routledge.Noel Castree and Bruce Braun (1998) "The Construction of Nature and the Nature of Construction: Analytical and Political Tools for Building Survivable Futures." Pp. 1-42 in B. Braun and N. Castree (eds.) Remaking Reality: Nature at the Millenium. Routledge.Bruno Latour (1998) "To Modernize or Ecologize? That is the Question." Pp. 221-242 in B. Braun and N. Castree (eds.) Remaking Reality: Nature at the Millenium. Routledge.Graham Woodgate and Michael Redclift (1998) "From a 'Sociology of Nature' to Environmental Sociology." Environmental Values 7, 1, Feb., 3-24.
WEEK 13: RADICAL ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTSAssigned Readings:Bill Devall (1992) "Deep Ecology and Radical Environmentalism." Pp. 51-62 in R.E. Dunlap and A.G. Mertig (eds.) American Environmentalism: The U.S. Environmental Movement, 1970-1990. Taylor and Francis.Dave Foreman (1991) "In Time of Crisis." Pp. 1-10 in Confessions of an Eco-Warrior. Harmony.David Rothenberg (1995) "Have a Friend for Lunch: Norwegian Radical Ecology Versus Tradition." Pp. 201-218 in B.R. Taylor (ed.) Ecological Resistance Movements: The Global Emergence of Radical and Popular Environmentalism. SUNY.Roderick Frazier Nash (1989) "Ethical Extension and Radical Environmentalism" and "Abolitionism, Environmentalism, and the Limits of American Liberalism." Pp. 3-12,199-213 in The Rights of Nature: A History of Environmental Ethics. Wisconsin.Jonathan K. London (1998) "Common Roots and Entangled Limbs: Earth First! and the Growth of Post-Wilderness Environmentalism on California's North Coast." Antipode 30 (2): 155-176.Radical Environmental Movements Suggested Readings:
WEEK 14: "THIRD WORLD" ENV'TAL MOVEMENTSAssigned Readings:Riley E. Dunlap and Angela G. Mertig (1995) "Global Concern for the Environment: Is Affluence a Prerequisite?" Journal of Social Issues 51 (4): 121-137.Al Gedicks (1995) "International Native Resistance to the New Resource Wars." Pp. 89-108 in B.R. Taylor (ed.) Ecological Resistance Movements: The Global Emergence of Radical and Popular Environmentalism. SUNY.Ramachandra Guha and J. Martinez-Alier (1997) "The Environmentalism of the Poor." Pp. 3-21 in Varieties of Environmentalism: Essays North and South. Earthscan.J. Peter Brosius (1997) "Endangered Forest, Endangered People: Environmentalist Representations of Indigenous Knowledge." Human Ecology 25 (1): 47-69.Patricia Lundy (1999) "Fragmented Community Action or New Social Movement? A Study of Environmentalism in Jamaica." International Sociology 14 (1): 83-102."Third World" Environmental Movements Suggested Readings:
WEEK 15: ANTI-ENVIRONMENTALIST MOVEMENTSAssigned Readings:Jacqueline Vaughn Switzer (1997) "The Wise Use Movement." Pp. 191-225 in Green Backlash: The History and Politics of Environmental Opposition in the U.S. Lynne Rienner.Ron Arnold (1996) "Overcoming Ideology." Pp. 15-26 in P.D. Brick and R. M. Cawley (eds.) A Wolf in the Garden: The Land Rights Movement and the New Environmental Debate. Rowman and Littlefield.Matthew A. Wilson (1997) "The Wolf in Yellowstone: Science, Symbol, or Politics? Deconstructing the Conflict Between Environmentalism and Wise Use." Society and Natural Resources 10 (5): 453-468.Andrew Rowell (1996) "The Price of Silence: Surveillance, Suppression, SLAPPs and Violence." Pp. 157-181 in Green Backlash: Global Subversion of the Environmental Movement. Routledge.Anti-Environmentalist Movements Suggested Readings:
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