National Research University - Higher School of Economics, Moscow
Sociological Faculty
Master Programme “Complex Social Analysis”, Course
“Environmental Sociology (Social EcologyElective Course, 8 Credits
Title of the course: Environmental sociology - human use of natural resources and
environmental consequences
Teacher: Prof. Karl Bruckmeier
Language: English
Course plan and syllabus
I. Syllabus: Schedule, lectures and seminars
The course is given in 11 lectures and 3 workshops of 2 hours each:
Part 1: Introduction – development of social ecology and environmental sociology, Part
2: Deepening – Problems and themes of environmental research
Part 1:
Lecture/seminar – texts for reading, theme
Lecture 1: Environmental sociology, origins/history of a new subdiscipline: the
development of the sub-discipline - themes: nature and society, environmental problems,
environmental awareness, natural resource use, environmental movements (texts 5, 7)
Lecture 2: Environmental sociology, approaches and methods: the knowledge
generation processes - basic concepts, theories, methods for environmental research;
non-sociological approaches in sociology (texts 4, 9)
Lecture 3: Main perspectives and authors: classical contributions; from Catton &
Dunlap – the HEP/NEP-paradigms; Mol & Spaargaren – ecological modernization and
environmental movements; Beck & Giddens – risk society and reflexive modernity (texts
2, 6, 10)
Lecture 4: Main perspectives and authors: constructivism and beyond - recent
contributions from Yanitzky – environmental movements in Russia; Wallerstein & Rice:
World System Theory and ecologically unequal exchange (texts 11, 15, 16)
Lecture 5: Neighbouring disciplines and overlapping discourses: interaction
society/nature - human, cultural and social ecology; common pool resources, natural
resource management (text 3, 12)
Lecture 6: Neighbouring disciplines and overlapping discourses: cultural, social,
economic and environmental changes - environmental and ecological economics;
environmental history (texts 1, 13)
Lecture 7: Environmental sociology – thematic perspectives: fields of research environmental awareness, value changes and changes of life-styles, environmental
movements (Northern and Southern countries); technological change and system change
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(ecological modernization, ”greening of the economy”, “dematerialization”, “degrowth”);
(text 18, 20)
Lecture 8: Environmental sociology – thematic perspectives: interdisciplinary themes poverty, population growth and development (Malthusian questions); quantifying and
measuring natural resource use and its impacts (social and environmental impact
analysis; indicators for human resource use; risk, vulnerability and resilience); (texts 19,
20)
Lecture 9: Environmental sociology - problems and risks: historical and modern
societies - problems of natural resource use in the history of human societies (scarcity,
overuse, distribution); environmental problems/risks in industrial/ modern societies
(industrial pollution of the environment, agricultural pollution of the environment, lifestyles and private consumption/households); (texts 21, 24)
Lecture 10: Environmental sociology - problems and risks: the 21st century –
economic globalization and global environmental change: biodiversity reduction, climate
change, land use change; ecological distribu-tion conflicts and unequal exchange –
industrialized countries and “the global South” (texts 26, 27, 28)
Lecture 11: Global change – problems and solutions: towards solutions - socialecological Systems/ SES – integration of world system and earth system; sustainable
development and the future global society – scenarios (text 17, 23, 29)
Workshop 1: Presentation and discussion of litera-ture (selected texts) by working
groups of students: texts 4, 8
Workshop 2 – Presentation and discussion of litera-ture (selected texts) by working
groups of students: texts 15, 16
Workshop 3 – Presentation and discussion of litera-ture (selected texts) by working
groups of students: texts 22, 25
Course literature (texts)
The literature will be copied in a course compendium (electronic and paper copies) for
the participants before the course starts.
Part 1: Literature/texts used in the lectures and workshops
(a) Book (selected chapters):
1. Robert B. Marks, The Origins of the Modern World (Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham et
al.), 2002) – chapters 4, 5, conclusion
(b) Texts from scientific journals/papers and anthologies:
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2. Beck, Ulrich, 2000. Risk Society Revisited: Theory, Politics and Research
Programmes (in: Barbara Adam et al., eds., The risk society and beyond: critical issues
for social theory, Sage: London et al., pp. 211-229)
3. Becker, Egon; Jahn, Thomas, Societal Relations to Nature. Outline of a Critical Theory
in the Ecological Crisis (http: //www.isoe.de, info@isoe.de)
4. Walker, Gavin, 2005. Sociological theory and the natural environment. History of the
Human Sciences, 18, 1, pp. 77-106.
5. Buttel, Fredrick H., et al., 2002. Sociological Theory and the Environment: An
Overview and Introduction (in: R. E, Dunlap et al., eds., Sociological Theory and the
Environment. Classical Foundations, Contemporary Insights. Rowman and Littlefield:
Lanham, Boulder, New York and Oxford, pp. 3-32)
6. Catton, William R; Dunlap, Riley, A, 2002. Comparison of Environmental and Natural
Resource Sociology (in: Society and Natural Resources, 15, pp. 239-249)
7. Cerulo, Karen A., 2009. Nonhumans in Social Interaction (in: Annual Review of
Sociology, 35, pp. 531–552)
8. Demeritt, David, 2002. What is the `social construction of nature´? A typology and
sympathetic critique (in: Progress in Human Geography, 26, 6, pp. 767-790).
9. Dunlap, Riley, et al., 2000. “Measuring the Endorsement of the New Ecological
Paradigm: A Revised NEP Scale” (in: Journal of Social Issues, 56, no, 3, pp. 425-442)
10. Mol, Arthur; Spaargaren, Gert, 2005. From Additions and Withdrawals to
Environmental Flows: Reframing Debates in the Environmental Social Sciences (in:
Organization Environment, 18,1, pp. 91-107)
11. Mol Arthur, 2009. Environmental Deinstitutionalization in Russia (in: Journal of
Environmental Policy & Planning, 11, 3, pp. 223-242)
12. Ostrom, Elinor, 2007. A diagnostic approach to go beyond panaceas (in: PNAS, 104,
39, pp. 15181-15187)
13. Perelman, Michael, 2003. Myths of the Market: Economics and the Environment.
Organization & Environment, 16, pp. 168-226
14. Yanitsky, Oleg, 2005. The Value Shift of the Russian Greens (in: International
Review of Sociology -/Revue Internationale de Sociologie, 15, 2, pp. 363-380)
15. Yanitsky, Oleg, 2009. The Shift of Environmental Debates in Russia (Current Sociology, 57,
6, pp.747-766)
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16. Yanitsky, Oleg, 2011. Modernization: the burden of the past (The Sociological Review, 59, 4,
pp. 741-757)
Part 2: Literature/texts used in the lectures and workshops
(a) Book (selected chapters):
17. Electris, C., et al., 2009. The Century Ahead: Four Global Scenarios. Tellus Institute,
Boston, chapters 1, 8, 9, 10
(b) Articles from scientific journals and anthologies:
18. Goldman, Michael; Schurman, Rachel, 2000. Closing the “Great Divide”: New Social
Theory on Society and Nature. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, pp. 563-584.
19. Bogatyrev, L. G. Some Trends in Research on the Biosphere (Russian Journal of
Ecology, 2004, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 1–9; Translated from Ekologiya, no. 1, 2004, pp. 3–12;
in Russian and English)
20. Burke, Bryan E., Hardin Revisited: A Critical Look at Perception and the Logic of the
Commons in: (Human Ecology, 2001, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 449-476)
21. Fischer-Kowalski, Marina, On the History of Industrial Metabolism (in: Perspectives
on Industrial Ecology, ed. Dominique Bourg & Suren Erkman, 2003, Greenleaf
Publishing, pp. 35-45)
22. Haberl, Helmut, et al., 2011. A Socio-metabolic Transition towards
Sustainability? Challenges for Another Great Transformation (in: Sustainable
Development, 19, pp. 1–14)
23. Martens, Pim; Raza, Mohsin, 2010. Is Globalisation Sustainable? (in: Sustainability,
2, pp. 280-293)
24. Martinez-Alier, Joan, 2008. Social Metabolism, Ecological Distribution Conflicts,
and Languages of Valuation (Conference presentation, EHEES, Paris, 11-13 Sept. 2008).
25. Newell, Peter, 2008. The political economy of global environmental governance.
Review of International Studies, 34, pp. 507-529.
26. Rice, James, 2007. Ecological Unequal Exchange: Consumption, Equity, and
Unsustainable Structural Relationships within the Global Economy (in: International
Journal of Comparative Sociology, 48, 1, pp. 43-72).
27. Saloranta, Tuomo M., 2001. Post-Normal Science and the Global Climate Change
Issue (in: Climatic Change, 50, pp. 395-404).
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28. York, Richard; Rosa, Eugene; Dietz, Thomas, Footprints on the Earth: The
Environmental Consequences of Modernity (in: American Sociological Review, 2003,
68, pp. 279-300)
29. Young, Oran R., et al., 2006. The globalization of socio-ecological systems: An
agenda for scientific research (in: Global Environmental Change, 16, pp. 304-316).
Literature discussed in the workshops:
Workshop 1: presentation and discussion of texts 4, 8
Workshop 2: presentation and discussion of texts 15, 16
Workshop 3: presentation and discussion of texts 22, 25
II. The course plan (aims and themes of the course)
1. Aims of the course
The course provides basic knowledge (part 1) and in-depth knowledge (part 2) about
environmental problems in modern societies and the human use of natural resources
(renewable and non-renewable resources). The perspective is interdisciplinary with
environmental sociology as basic subject area. Knowledge from different disciplines is
used to understand present environmental and resource use problems (potential
exhaustion of fossil resources, degradation of the global environment, availability of
certain natural resources). The analysis of exemplary problems of human resource use
helps to demonstrate the challenges of resource management, the relevance of natural
resources for the further development of economy and society, and potential solutions to
complex environmental problems.
After having finished the course students shall be able
(a) to assess critically the environmental problems in modern societies in the
contexts of social, political and economic action,
(b) to understand the main problems that are linked with availability, access to,
use, management, recycling of material and other natural resources,
(c) to analyze empirically and practically the problems of natural resource use in
concrete local, regional or national contexts of economy and relevant policies,
(d) to understand the consequences and long-term effects of specific forms of
resource use for the economic system, the society, and the environment,
(e) to argue individually and critically (as well orally as in written form) about
main problems of natural resource use in present society.
2. The course program (content)
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The course includes lectures and seminars and requires from the students individual
reading of the course literature, group work for the seminar sessions, and an individual
examination essay.
Part 1: Introduction – development of environmental sociology
Theme 1. Environmental sociology – overview: history/development, themes and
methods
1.1 Origins/history - a new subdiscipline of sociology (since the 1970s in USA, UK,
France, Germany): themes – environmental problems, environmental awareness, natural
resources and resource use practices, environmental justice
1.2 Basic concepts, approaches and methods – knowledge generation
Theme 2. Main perspectives and authors
2.1 William Catton & Riley Dunlap – the HEP/NEP-paradigms
2.2 A. Mol & G. Spaargaren – ecological modernization and environmental movements
2.3 Ulrich Beck – risk society
2.4 Oleg Yanitzky – environmental movements in Russia
2.5 Social construction of nature (social constructivism)
2.6 Immanuel Wallerstein & James Rice: World System Theory and ecologically unequal
exchange
Theme 3. Neighbouring fields and overlapping discourses
Environmental sociology as part of a broader field of interdisciplinary environmental
social sciences:
3.1 Human, cultural and social ecology
3.2 Natural resource management
3.3 Environmental and Ecological Economics
3.4 Environmental history
Part 2: Deepening – Problems and themes of environmental research
Theme 4. Environmental sociology – thematic perspectives
4.1 Environmental awareness, value changes (“postmaterial values”) and changes of
lifestyles, environmental movements (industrial countries, Southern countries –
ecofeminism, environmentalism of the poor)
4.2 Technological change and system change (ecological modernization, ”greening of the
economy”, “dematerialization”)
4.3 Poverty, population growth and development (Malthusian questions)
4.4 Quantifying and measuring natural resource use and its impacts (social and
environmental impact analysis; indicators for human resource use; risk, vulnerability and
resilience)
Theme 5: Environmental sociology - problems and risks
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5.1 Problems of natural resource use in the history of human societies (scarcity, overuse,
distribution)
5.2 The emergence of environmental problems/risks in industrial/modern societies
(industrial pollution of the environment, agricultural pollution of the environment,
lifestyles and private consumption/households)
5.3 Economic globalization and global environmental change: biodiversity reduction,
climate change, land use change
5.4 Ecological distribution conflicts and unequal exchange – industrialized countries and
“the global South”
Theme 6. Global change – problems and solutions
6.1 Social-ecological Systems/SES – Integration of World System, and Earth System
6.2 Sustainable development and the future global society – scenarios
The course program is to be specified in a detailed course syllabus every time the course
is read. The course syllabus can change over time through updating of literature and
themes.
3. The course literature
The course literature includes English texts from social ecology, environmental sociology
and neighboring disciplines. An updated list with the course literature is given in the
syllabus for every term. Course literature will be handed out to the participants in form of
a course compendium (electronic or paper copies).
4. Examination
The examination includes three parts, all required to pass the course. The first part is
obligatory participation in all lectures and seminars of the course, including active
participation in the seminars. The second part is a group work (presentation and
discussion of a text from the course literature in a seminar session, done in small working
groups). The third part is an individual homework in form of a short individual essay.
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