Overview
The primary objective of this senior course is to introduce the student to a sociological perspective on ecology and, as ecologist Stan Rowe says, “that blurry concept called environment.” SOCI 450 critically assesses a number of contradictions in the current ways that many social theorists conceive of ecology, the environment, and environmental controversies. To that end, students analyse concepts such as the commons, global ecology, green economics, environmental management, consumption, acquisitiveness and identity, scientific knowledge, and the fashionable term “sustainable development.”
Evaluation
To receive credit for SOCI 450, you must achieve a course composite grade of at least a C- (60 percent). You must also achieve a minimum grade of C- (60 percent) on your final research paper. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:
| Activity | Weight |
| Critical Comm. | 25% |
| Quizzes | 20% |
| Research Paper Proposal | 5% |
| Annotated Bibliography | 20% |
| Final Research Paper | 30% |
| Total | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
Physical course materials
The following course materials are included in a course package that will be shipped to your home prior to your course’s start date:
Shiva, Vandana, Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis, Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2015.
Turner, Terisa E., and Leigh Brownhill, The New Twenty-First Century Land and Oil Wars, New York: International Oil Working Group, 2009.
Ashnan Film (producers), Hijacked Future, 2009, 43-minute. Reproduced with permission of David Springbett.
Other materials
Students will access all other course materials online.