SOC413 ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY

Course Code:2320413
METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week):3 (3.00 - 0.00)
ECTS Credit:6.0
Department:Sociology
Language of Instruction:English
Level of Study:Undergraduate
Course Coordinator:
Offered Semester:Fall and Spring Semesters.

Course Objectives

  • Introduce students to the research in environmental sociology and to emphasize how a sociological perspective can inform our understanding of changes in the natural world. Although environmental sociology encompasses a large and growing literature, the course will focus upon several prominent works and will introduce students to the fundamental issues and debates in the field.
  • Promote students’ ability to evaluate the existing research and to understand its implications. Class discussions, lectures, writing assignments, and the final paper will all help in the realization of this goal.
  • Promote the development of a global perspective on environmental issues. Just as processes of environmental and social change are linked, developments originating in isolated regions often have worldwide implications. Conversely, global trends are often particularly manifest in specific locales. This course will attempt to make those critical connections evident.
  • Enhance students’ writing and research abilities. Toward this end, each student in the course will complete regular writing assignments and a research paper.

Course Content

Environmental sociology is a field of inguiry that focuses on the relationship between society and the biophysical environment. This course will consider social relationships at both the global and local levels, as well as in urban and rural localities. It examines how human societies affect the environment and how human societies are shaped by the environment.


Course Learning Outcomes

  • Introduce students to the research in environmental sociology and to emphasize how a sociological perspective can inform our understanding of changes in the natural world. Although environmental sociology encompasses a large and growing literature, the course will focus upon several prominent works and will introduce students to the fundamental issues and debates in the field.
  • Promote students’ ability to evaluate the existing research and to understand its implications. Class discussions, lectures, writing assignments, and the final paper will all help in the realization of this goal.
  • Promote the development of a global perspective on environmental issues. Just as processes of environmental and social change are linked, developments originating in isolated regions often have worldwide implications. Conversely, global trends are often particularly manifest in specific locales. This course will attempt to make those critical connections evident.
  • Enhance students’ writing and research abilities. Toward this end, each student in the course will complete regular writing assignments and a research paper.

Program Outcomes Matrix

Level of Contribution
#Program Outcomes0123
1To correlate sociology and other social sciences
2To interpret knowledge produced by society from a sociological perspective
3To renew and improve their accumulation by following up-to-date publications and research programs in their fields
4To be open to occupational novelties in order to understand social change
5To produce original solutions within and outside the discipline and in interdisciplinary levels
6To know and implement the ethics of sociological research
7To be aware of social, environmental, and economic effects in the areas where sociological approaches are appropriated
8To use and transfer the accumulation of sociological knowledge in an interdisciplinary way
9To understand social structures and dynamics by correlating the past, the present and the future
10To connect social theories of knowledge and social practices

0: No Contribution 1: Little Contribution 2: Partial Contribution 3: Full Contribution