Environmental Sociology - American Sociological Association

2/28 Thur. Energy and the Environment
• Questions: How does U.S. energy consumption compare to global patterns of energy
use? How and why has America become dependent on petroleum? What are the major
political, historical, and social factors that help to explain our reliance on oil?
• Read: Humphrey, Lewis, and Buttel, Ch. 5
3/5 Tues. Toxic Waste and The Woburn Cluster
• Questions: What were the first signs of a toxic waste problem in Woburn? What was
the “Woburn Cluster”?
• Read: Brown & Mikkelsen, Foreword-Ch. 1
3/7 Thur. Community Response
• Questions: What were some of the barriers to pursuing a legal remedy? What
obstacles did the community face? What is required to mobilize a community against
an environmental threat? What mental health effects did Brown & Mikkelsen
observe?
• Read: Brown & Mikkelsen, Ch. 2-3
3/12 Tues. Popular Epidemiology and Social Change
• Questions: What is the difference between traditional and popular epidemiology? On
what basis has the scientific community criticized popular epidemiology? What
counts as legitimate data for each model?
• Read: Brown & Mikkelsen, Ch. 4-5
• Exam review
3/14 Thur. Exam 1
• 8:10-9:30 a.m., Horton 307
3/18 - 3/22 Spring Break
3/26 Tues. Exam results
• exam overview and discussion
• mid-semester grades
3/28 Thur. The Environmental Movement
• Questions: What is a social movement? To what extent has the environmental
movement had an impact on policy? On people’s consciousness? What are some of
the critiques of contemporary environmental organizations?
• Read: Humphrey, Lewis, and Buttel, Ch. 6
4/2 Tues. Race, Class, and Place
• Questions: Why are minority and low-income groups often more severely impacted
by environmental problems? Why have these same groups not traditionally been part
of the mainstream environmental movement? What is “uneven development”?
• Read: Bullard, Preface-Ch. 2
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