1 CORE ISSUES IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND RESOURCE SOCIOLOGY SYD 6518 Spring Semester 2016 Thursday Periods 4-6, 10:40 AM - 1:40 PM, Ustler Hall 0108 Instructor / Moderator: Stephen G. Perz, Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law Office: 3115 Turlington Hall Office hours: MWF 12:50 – 1:40 PM Office Phone: 294-7186 E-mail: [email protected] Course Overview Environmental and Resource Sociology arose in response to broader environmental concern within and outside of academia, and is now an established specialty within the broader discipline of sociology. This course addresses the origins and current status of ERS, central theoretical debates among ER sociologists, and focal topics of concern to ER sociologists, with emphasis on ERS topics current among ER sociologists at the University of Florida. This course has multiple goals. First, it seeks to provide a survey of readings on core issues in ERS, and thus serve as the foundation for a larger reading list by ERS graduate students reading for their PhD qualifying exams. Second, it affords an opportunity for ERS graduate students to engage in core ERS issues by leading weekly discussions in which mutual education occurs via social learning. And third, the course provides ERS graduate students the chance to write and present a paper on a relevant ERS topic. The class also incorporates a peer review component to familiarize graduate students with the peer review process used at scholarly journals and increasingly academic conferences. Required Materials All readings have been selected on the basis of (among other things) their availability via the web. Therefore, there is no reading packet or book to buy. This is for cost containment, paper conservation, and to focus on primary literature. I will e-mail the readings as PDFs a week or two before they are to be discussed in class. Grading Item Percent Attendance and participation in discussions 20 Presentations of readings 30 Individual project 40 Project presentation 10 Total 100 Attendance and Participation in Discussions. Since the objective of this course is to engage students of sociology in an exchange of sociological ideas, attendance is crucial in order to have a diversity of 2 perspectives represented. I will informally take attendance and encourage contributions from everyone, not to put people on the spot but to broaden discussion. Presentations of Readings. This semester everyone will share in leading presentations of readings. On a given week, one student will lead the presentation on selected groups of readings, and I will lead other groups. As the number of groups of readings varies, we’ll negotiate this, but in general the expectation is that the workload in leading presentations will end up being roughly even among all class participants (including the professor) by the end of the semester. It is up to you and I as professor to decide how best to structure your presentations. You are welcome to incorporate other reading material (though the rest of the class is not required to read it) and your own experiences. In class, each person is expected to present. Your presentation should run about 15 minutes, and emphasize the underlying assumptions, implications, advances and oversights of the ideas in the reading, rather than just a straight summary. Presentations are intended to stimulate discussion, so you should conclude your presentation with 2-4 discussion questions. Individual Project. This course covers a variety of topics, but it is nonetheless selective. Therefore, you are expected to develop an individual project paper on a topic of your choice. The topic can be one from among the assigned readings, but your project needs to go beyond that and provide a more in-depth examination. The choice of topic is up to you, but you must send me a title and abstract before proceeding (see the course schedule for deadlines). The topic can be highly theoretical or applied, and can come from your own research. If you are not sure what you want to do, take a look at the course schedule, skim some of the readings, do some on-line searches, talk to your colleagues, and/or consult me. I encourage you to pick a topic for a paper that will serve a purpose beyond this class, ideally a literature review for your qualifying exams or proposal or (better still) a paper for a professional conference or even a journal. Once I’ve approved the abstract, your task is to produce a paper of ~20-25 pages of text double-spaced (plus tables, references, etc.). Drafts of project papers are due to me by e- mail one week before they are to be presented (see course schedule for deadlines). This will allow everyone a chance to see the papers prior to their presentation. Project Presentation. During the last class meeting, everyone will present their project paper. Project presentations should follow the guidelines for presentations of readings. That is, they should run ~15 minutes, highlight implications, and conclude with questions. We’ll then allow 20-30 minutes for discussion of the project paper. University Policies and Services Honesty: As a result of completing the registration form at the University of Florida, every student has signed the following statement: "I understand that the University of Florida expects its students to be honest in all their academic work. I agree to adhere to this commitment to academic honesty and understand that my failure to comply with this commitment may result in disciplinary action up to and including expulsion from the University." Accommodation for students with disabilities: Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation. 3 UF Counseling Services: Resources are available on-campus for students having personal problems or lacking a clear career and academic goals which interfere with their academic performance. These resources include: 1. University Counseling Center, 392-1575, www.counsel.ufl.edu, personal and career counseling; 2. Student Mental Health, Student Health Care Center, 392-1575, www.health.ufl.edu/shcc, personal counseling; 3. Center for Sexual Assault/Abuse, Student Health Care Center, 392-1161, sexual counseling; 4. Career Resource Center, Reitz Union, 392-1601, www.crc.ufl.edu, career development assistance and counseling. *TENTATIVE* COURSE SCHEDULE AND READINGS CORE ISSUES IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND RESOURCE SOCIOLOGY Week 1 – 7 January – Introductions Introduction Syllabus Week 2 – 14 January – Antecedents and Influences on ERS Human Ecology Park, Robert. 1936. “Human Ecology.” American Journal of Sociology. 42(1): 1-15. Duncan, O.D., L.F. Schnore and P.H. Rossi. 1959. “Cultural, Behavioral, and Ecological Perspectives in the Study of Social Organization.” American Journal of Sociology 65(2): 132-153. Catton, William R., Jr. 1994. “Foundations of Human Ecology.” Sociological Perspectives. 37(1): 75-95. Political Ecology Greenberg, J.B. and T.K. Park. 1994. “Political Ecology.” Journal of Political Ecology 1(1): 1-12. Bryant, R.L. 1997. “Beyond the Impasse: The Power of Political Ecology in Third World Environmental Research.” Area 29(1): 5-19. Vayda, A. and B. Walters. 1999. “Against Political Ecology.” Human Ecology 27(1): 167-179. Ecological Marxism Foster, J.B. 1995. “Marx and Ecology.” Monthly Review 47(3): 108-124. Burkett, Paul. 2001. Review of Natural Causes: Essays in Ecological Marxism. Monthly Review 50(9): 47- 57. 4 Foster, J.B. 1999. “Marx’s Theory of Metabolic Rift: Classical Foundations for Environmental Sociology.” American Journal of Sociology. 105(2):366-405. Harvey, D. 1998. “Marxism, metaphors, and ecological politics.” Monthly Review 49(11): 17-31. Week 3 – 21 January – The Emergence and Status of ERS Beginnings and Reflections Catton, W.R. Jr. and R.E. Dunlap. 1979. “Environmental Sociology.” Annual Review of Sociology 5: 243- 273. Freudenberg, W.R. 2008. “Thirty Years of Scholarship on Environment-Society Relationships.” Organization and Environment 21(4): 449-459. Perspectives, Debates and Reviews Laska, S.B. 1993. “Environmental Sociology and the State of the Discipline.” Social Forces 72(1): 1-17. Buttel, F.H. 2002. “Environmental Sociology and the Sociology of Natural Resources: Institutional Histories and Intellectual Legacies.” Society and Natural Resources 15(3): 205-211. Dunlap, R.E. and W.R. Catton, Jr. 2002. “Which Function(s) of the Environment Do We Study? A Comparison of Environmental and Natural Resource Sociology. Society and Natural Resources 15(3): 239-249. Belsky, J.M. 2002. “Beyond the Natural Resource and Environmental Sociology Divide: Insights from a Transdisciplinary Perspective.” Society and Natural Resources 15(3): 269-280. Mol, A.J.P. 2006. “From Environmental Sociologies to Environmental Sociology? A Comparison of US and European Environmental Sociology.” Organization and Environment 19(1): 5-27. Pellow, D. and H. Nyseth Brehm. 2013. “An Environmental Sociology for the Twenty-First Century.” Annual Review of Sociology 39: 229-250. Week 4 – 28 January – Theory, part 1: Treadmills and Ecological Modernization Treadmills Gould, K., D. Pellow, and A. Schnaiberg. 2004. “Interrogating the Treadmill of Production: Everything You Wanted to Know About the Treadmill, But Were Afraid to Ask.” Organization & Environment. 17(3):296-316. Buttell, F.H. 2004. “The Treadmill of Production: An Appreciation, Assessment, and Agenda for Research.” Organization and Environment 17(3): 323-336. 5 Wright, E.O. 2004. “Interrogating the Treadmill of Production: Some Questions I Still Want to Know About and Am Not Afraid to Ask.” Organization and Environment 17(3): 317- 322. Foster, J.B. 2005. “The Treadmill Of Accumulation: Schnaiberg’s Environment and Marxian Political Economy.” Organization and Environment 18(1): 7-18. Ecological Modernization Buttel, F.H. 2000. “Ecological Modernization as Social Theory.” Geoforum 31: 57-65. Mol, A.P.J.