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44 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is sociology
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• The systematic study of the relationship between individual and society and of the consequence of difference
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o Systematic study
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empirical research, both quantitative and qualitative
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o The Individual
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Exists in an interactive relationship with its environment, and within the context of relationships
• Agency versus Structure |
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o Society
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Persistent patterns of relationships and social networks within which we operate
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o Consequence of Difference
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The consequences of unequal economic, social and cultural resources
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• The Sociological Imagination
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o An awareness of the relationship between an individual and wider society.
o Personal troubles versus Public issues • Example: Unemployment, Depression |
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o Chico Mendes
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• Was a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist. He fought to stop the burning and logging of the Amazon Rainforest to clear land for cattle ranching, and founded a national union of rubber tappers in attempt to preserve their profession and the rainforest that it relied upon.
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o Love Canal
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• Love Canal is a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, which became the subject of national and international attention, controversy, and eventual environmental notoriety following the discovery of 21,000 tons of toxic waste that had been buried beneath the neighborhood by Hooker Chemical.
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o Socialization
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– Lifelong process through which people learn the attitudes, values and behaviors appropriate for members of a particular culture
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o Culture
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The totality of our shared language, knowledge, material objects and behavior
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o Race
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A group that is set apart from others because of physical differences that have taken on social significance.
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o Class
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A social ranking based primarily on economic position
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o Gender
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The social and cultural significance that we attach to the biological difference of sex
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• Emile Durkheim: Functionalist Perspective
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o Focus on order and stability
o Society as a system of interrelated and interdependent parts • The Human body o Problematic aspects of society – crime, poverty, drug addiction – even serve a function |
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o Anomie
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Social upheaval and instability
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• Karl Marx:
o Conflict Perspective |
• Conflict is inevitable and vehicle for social change
• Who benefits from a particular social pattern or arrangement, and at whose expense? • Means of material production • Means of Mental production |
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• Max Weber: Western Rationalization
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o Rationalization – Focus on efficiency
o Can be a problem because of environmental degradation to do it the easiest way possible • Examples from the reading • Chico Mendes • Love Canal • Deforestation in India o Bureaucracy--Rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency |
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• Bhopal Chemical Disaster
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o The Bhopal disaster is the world's worst industrial catastrophe. It occurred on the night of December 2–3, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. UCIL was the Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) A leak of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals from the plant resulted in the exposure of several thousands of people. Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release
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o Environmental sociology
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is the study of both natural communities and human communities – how they shape one another, how they interact with one another
• How do human behaviors influence environmental outcomes? • How does the environment influence human behavior? |
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o Environmental Problems Are ______ Problems Too
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• Human behavior, social organization, values, beliefs and ideology all play a role in producing and solving environmental issues
• Change over time and space • Example: Hazardous waste sites |
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• What is Ideology?
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o The large social and historical patterns that shape the way we understand and interpret the world around us
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o Max Webers Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
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• Protestant Reformation (late 16th century)
• Predestination → Ascetic rationalism • Hard work + Efficiency = Salvation • Denial of worldly pleasure = Accumulation of wealth |
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• Carnivalesque body
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An ecological body that interacts with the environment by performing canal functions; eating, excreting, copulating, birthing, sleeping, sneezing
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• Classical body
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A cultural body, separate from nature. The bodys ecological connections are seen as shameful. Its functions, opening and fluids are ritually controlled
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(Longitudinal Study)
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• World Values Survey 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010
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(Cross-sectional Study)
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• International Millennium Survey 1999
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o Henry David Thoreau
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• Natural Me
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o John Muir
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• Founded Sierra Club and Yosemite national Park
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o Aldo Leopold
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• emphasized biodiversity and ecology and was a founder of the science of wildlife management
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postmaterialist
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• Maslows hierarchy of needs (draws on idea that there are basic needs that need to be met before we can satisfy higher needs)
• Generation effect (past generations were more concerned about ‘just getting by’) |
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Critiques of post-materialism
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• Communities that are not necessarily the riches (poor, colored communities) are leading the grass roots movement
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• New Ecological Paradigm
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o Material impact of industrialization and ideology of domination more evident
o Humans not separate from the environment but connected to i |
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• Ecological Modernization
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o Recognition of environmental problems reshaping institutions and social practices
o Globalization is a good thing because we can work with other countries to create environmental policies • Ex. Montréal protocol (no more CFCs) |
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Critiques of Ecological Modernization
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• Doesn’t address why problems begin
• Keep on consuming because production will become ‘modern’ and ‘ecologically friendly’ • Move production to areas with less protical/laws |
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• Treadmill of Production
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o Conflict theory on human environmental interaction
• Capitalism is based on profits so green revolution must become more profitable to become more competitive o Environmental degradation occurs due to the logic of capitalism • Higher profitability • Growth • Competition • Technological change – increased efficiency ***KEY DRIVER |
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o First and Second Contradictions of capitalism
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• People who produce our goods cant usually afford what they are producing (not accumulation wealth so can be consumers)
• Huge surplus of goods will cause the market to collapse • Depleting natural resources at an unsustainable rate • We will run out eventually |
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o Realists focus
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on material conditions of environmental problems; solving structural/macro issues that contribute to environmental problems
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o Constructionists
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Focus on ideology; how and why something becomes defined as an environmental problem at a specific time and place
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o Yellowstone model
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• Exclusion of people = human/society divide
• Culturally specific understanding of wilderness • Individuals who resided there were kicked out because it wasn’t socially acceptable |
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o Impact of tourism
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• Locals out, foreigners in along with trash/buildings/resterants
• Maasi tribe- forced into smaller areas, change way of life. Used to co-exist, now in competition with animals |
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Media and Climate Change Taking a Conflict Perspective
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How does the power structure of the media influence the discourse on global warming/ climate change
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Media and Climate Change Taking a Fuctionalist Perspective
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Has the media contributed to a collective consciousness of global warming or a state of anomie
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Media and Climate Change Taking a Structuralist Perspective
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How has global warming become accepted as a social and environmental problem? Has it been successful?
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o How has Webers ‘Western Rationalization’ influenced media reporting of environmental issues such as climate change?
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• Western rationalization (efficiency, profitability)
• Efficient reporting • Gives us media in 30 sec or less |
