DSOC 6200 - Community, Place, and Environment

(crosslisted) NTRES 6201
(SBA-AG) (CU-SBY)

Fall. 3 credits. Student option grading.

Enrollment limited to: graduate students.

R. Stedman.

Understanding the place-based nature of environmental problems demands a rigorous understanding of the role of the locality in shaping social response. “Community” and “place” are two contemporary frameworks utilized to understand how localities experience and respond to environmental change. This graduate seminar examines the theoretical and practical linkages between “community” and “place” and applies them to contemporary environmental problems. “Community” and “place,” though often invoked, are rarely critically examined, hence the course seeks to clarify the ways in which the two concepts have been conceptualized and operationalized by sociology and related disciplines. Each in turn is critically applied to the analysis of a range of contemporary environmental issues.

Outcome 1: Critically examine the nature society interrelationships.

Outcome 2: Apply social science theory to examine interrelationships between environmental issues and changes in social structure.

Outcome 3: Build analytical frameworks to design original research on interrelationships between environmental change and local social organization.

Outcome 4: Formulate alternative policy formulations to mediate environmental problems at the local level.