The goal of this course is to achieve a deeper understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the interactions and interdependencies between human societies and the ecosystems that surround us. We will pay especial attention to current ecological crises and opportunities as they are expressed in agro-food studies. We will examine political economy of food production and its impacts on the environment, cultural approaches to study of the environment, and environment and risk. The course will emphasize a macrosociological approach in environmental sociology by focusing on varied patterns of society and nature interactions in particular contexts of economy, ecology, and the exercise of power.

Bell, Michael. 2004. An Invitation to Environmental Sociology. Second Edition. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.

Examinations.

There will be three closed-book, in-class tests, covering assigned readings, lectures, and films for the time period preceding the exam. Exams will account for 75% of your grade and will be held on September 28th, October 28th, and December 7th. Exams will consist of 30-40 multiple choice questions and 1-2 short essay questions. Study questions for the exams will be posted on my website as well as provided to the class about a week before the examination. Test study sessions will be scheduled for students interested in reviewing covered material.

Quizzes

The will be 12 quizzes during the course. Quizzes will consist of 3 multiple choice questions that will cover the readings assigned for that particular class. Each quiz will be worth 3.3 points.

 Class Policy on Make-up exams and Quizzes

Unless student was ill which is documented by the note from Student Health Services or missed an exam upon authorization by the Office of the Provost and/or his or her designee there will be no make-up quizzes or exams. For ECU policy on university-excused absences see ECU 2003-2004 Undergraduate Catalog, pp. 52-53 at http://www.ecu.edu/aa/ugcat/ugcat0304/Table.pdf

Group Project/Paper

During the first week of the classes teams of two to three students will be formed to carry out a case study of environmental problems in North Carolina. The final report will contribute 15% of the course grade. The outline of the paper will be due on October 5^th.. Failure to submit the outline on time will result in 10% reduction of the group project grade.

The outline of the project should provide:

• Title/topic and student names working in a team
• An outline of the project (1 single spaced typed page for each of two or three students working in a team or a total of 2 or 3 stapled pages)
• An outline of each student working in a team should provide a table of contents of their part of the project (what s/he will be writing about; what will be a list of sources s/he will be using; and how their work will be integrated with the course materials [which concepts, theoretical approaches, examples from course books and lectures will be used]).

The outline of the project should be approved by the instructor. The final project will be due at 12PM in my office (Brewster A-410) on December 10^th. Failure to turn in a project on time will result in a 20% grade reduction penalty. Papers turned in after December 10^th will be graded only after the Christmas break. A group project may be:

1. An in-depth library research on ecological/environmental problem (various types of water and air pollution, health impacts, deforestation, loss of species, etc.) prevalent in North Carolina. Work on the paper can be subdivided into three parts each group member writing, correspondingly, on causes, consequences, and solutions of the issue chosen.

2. Media content analysis. Students might choose to systematically analyze frequency and content of news media coverage of environmental issues in North Carolina. Is there any "spin" put on the stories? If so, in what direction? How do different publications/stations compare in their coverage? Print media (newspaper) research may be historical; broadcast media (radio, tv) research should be daily for not less than 3 wks., video (audio) taping of newscasts recommended. For purposes of analysis any type of media--Local (Greenville, Wilmington, etc. newspaper(s), radio news programs, and TV news programs) Metropolitan (Raleigh/Durham, Charlotte, newspaper(s) radio news programs and television news programs and National newspaper(s) such as USA Today, New York Times, NPR radio news programs and national TV news programs)

3. Legislative issues. Students might present an in-depth analysis of current bill(s) before the state legislature relating to environmental regulation. Who introduced the bill? What testimony has been held on the bill? Who are the bills' supporters? Opponents? Where do various interest groups line up on the issue? Why?

4. A project of your own design. Instructor's consent required.

Guidelines for Written Work:

• Put your name on your paper. Give your paper a title and page numbers. Use 1 inch margins, a normal (12) font size, and double-spacing on each page.
• The paper should engage with the course materials by using concepts and methods of analysis presented in the class. At least 3 course lectures or readings should be incorporated in the paper. A paper which makes little use of course material will not receive a good grade.
• Do not turn in papers that are mostly quotations or copied and pasted text that you found on the web which will result in a failing grade. Make sure most of the words in your paper are yours. You absolutely must cite all sources of information used in the paper and then include a complete list of references at the end of your paper. You must provide references not only to direct quotations (which should be identified with quotation marks and page numbers), but also for summarized information that you got from a text. Failure to do so will seriously impact your grade, and may result in a referral to ECU Academic Integrity Board for a hearing on suspicion of plagiarism (see ECU Student Handbook, section III http://www.ecu.edu/studenthandbook/III.htm).

References in your paper should be cited in this way:

By the mid-1990s, reforms had produced significant economic growth overall, but they had devastated Polish agriculture, which was already widely estimated to lag twenty to thirty years behind its western European counterparts (OECD 1995; Ingham et al. 1998; Walton and Seddon 1994:288–329). Most of Poland’s two million farms produce solely to meet the subsistence needs of their operators with no commercial production (Grabowski 2000). After just five years of reform productivity, levels in agriculture had dropped well below 1988 levels, as unemployment in rural areas soared. Total employment in agriculture dropped by 26 percent, and its contribution to Poland’s GDP fell from 14 percent in 1986 to 7 percent in 1995 (Boer-Ashworth 2000:164). By the late 1990s, the Polish farm sector was in a desperate situation, and antireform sentiment was widespread (Blazyca 1999:805).

References (to be included at the end of your paper)

Blazyca, George. 1999. "Polish socioeconomic development in the 1990s and scenarios for EU accession," Europe-Asia Studies 51:799-819. [This is how to reference a journal article]

Boer-Ashworth, Elizabeth de. 2000. The Global Political Economy and Post-1989 Change: The Place of the Central European Transition. New York: St. Martin's Press.  [This is how to reference a book]

Grabowski, Maciej 2000. "Plough to Shares. The underfunded agricultural sector is crying out for reform and policy makers are just beginning to respond," World Link, January/February, pp. 293-296.

Juska, Arunas and Bob Edwards. 2004. "Refusing the Trojan Pig: The Trans-Atlantic coalition against corporate pork production in Poland." In: Joe Brandy and Smith, Jackie (eds.) Coalitions Across Borders: Transnational Protest and the Neo-Liberal Order. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, pp. 187-207.)  [This is how to reference a chapter from an edited volume]

OECD. 1995. Review of agricultural policies: Poland. Paris: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Ingham, Hilary, Mike Ingham and Gregorz Weclawowicz. 1998. "Agricultural reform in post-transitional Poland," Journal of Economic & Social Geography 89(2): 150-160.

Walton, John, and David Seddon. 1994. Free Markets & Food Riots: The Politics of Global Adjustment. Oxford, UK ; Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.

Gray, Tim. 2000. "Pig Stymied." Business North Carolina, March, 2000: 1-8. Online edition: http://www.gocarolinas.com/partners/businessnc/Archives/March_2000/march_2000.html. Accessed March 5, 2003. [This is how to reference a publication from the Internet]

Important! Due to a large number of students in a course no additional credit assignments will be available.

V. Grading Scale

Th, 08/26 Introduction and getting started. How to study for this course?

Tu, 08/31 Environmental Sociology: Environmental problems and society (Invitation to Env. Sociology, pp. 1-16)
Th, 09/02 Environmental justice and rights and beauty of nature (Bell, pp. 16-26) Perspectives in environmental sociology: ecological realism (Buttel, Frederic. "Environmental and Resource Sociology: Theoretical issues and Opportunities for Synthesis." In Rural Sociology, 1996, vol 61(1), pp. 56-66.) Available on the instructor’s website at core.ecu.edu/soci/juskaa.

Tu, 09/07 Perspectives in environmental sociology: social constructivism (Buttel, Frederic. "Environmental and Resource Sociology: Theoretical issues and Opportunities for Synthesis." In Rural Sociology, 1996, vol 61(1), pp. 66-75). Available on the web.
Th, 09/09 Summary and review of theoretical approaches in environmental sociology. Consumption and Materialism (Bell, pp. 29-43).

Tu, 09/14 Goods and Community (pp. 43-50); Money and Machines (Bell, pp. 51-62)
Th, 09/16 Money and Machines, (Bell, pp. 62-77)

Tu, 09/21 The Malthusian Argument (Bell, pp. 78-91). Test #1 questions are provided. Study guide is also made available on the web. Exam study session is scheduled for students interested in reviewing covered material.
Th, 09/23 The Critique of Malthusianism (Bell, pp. 91-104)

Tu, 09/28 Test #1.
Th, 09/30 We are what we eat (Schlosser, pp. 3-10) Meat and Potatoes. Why fries taste good (Schlosser, pp. 111-131).

Tu, 10/05 On the range (Schlosser, pp., 133-147); Cogs in the great machine (Schlosser, pp., 149-157). The outline of the team project is due. Failure to submit the outline will result in 10% reduction of the grade for a group project.
Th, 10/07 Cogs in the great machine (Schlosser, pp., 157-166); The most dangerous job (Schlosser, pp., 169-183)

Tu, 10/12 The most dangerous job (Fast Food Nation pp., 183-190); What’s in the meat (Schlosser, pp. 193-207).
Th, 10/14 Juska, Arunas, Lourdes Gouveia, Jackie Gabriel, and Kathleen P. Stanley. 2003. "Manufacturing bacteriological contamination outbreaks in industrialized meat production systems: The Case of E. coli O157:H7." Agriculture and Human Values, 20 (1): 3-19. (Available on instructor’s website at core.ecu.edu/soci/juskaa)

Tu 10/19 Fall break. No classes
Th, 10/21 What’s in the meat (Schlosser, pp. 208-222). Study questions for test II are provided. Study guide is also made available on the web. Test study session is scheduled for students interested in reviewing covered material.

Tu, 10/26 Global realization (Schlosser, pp. 225-252).
Th, 10/28 Epilogue: Have it your way (Schlosser, pp. 255-270).

11 Week: The Ideology of Environmental Concern

Tu, 11/02 Test #2.
Th, 11/04 The Ideology of Environmental Domination (Bell, pp.127-146)

Tu, 11/09 The Ideology of Environmental Concern (Bell, 147-160)
Th, 11/11 Three theories of Contemporary Environmental Concern (Bell, pp. 160-172)

Tu, 11/16 The Human Nature of Nature (Bell, pp. 173-174); Environment as Social Construction (Bell, pp. 187-193)
Th, 11/18 Introduction (Pollan, pp. xiii-xxv); Sweetness desire; The Apple (Pollan, pp. 3-36)

Tu, 11/23 Sweetness desire; Plant: The Apple (Pollan, pp. 37-58); Intoxication desire: Marijuana (Pollan, pp. 113-134)
Th, 11/24 No classes. Thanksgiving break.

Tu, 11/30 Desire of control: Potato (Pollan, pp. 183-216). Study questions for test III are provided. Study guide is also made available on the web. Test study session is scheduled for students interested in reviewing covered material.
Th, 12/02 Desire control; Potato; Epilogue (Pollan, pp. 217-245)

Final paper is due on Friday, December 10^th at 12pm in my office Brewster B-410A.

East Carolina University is committed to equality of educational opportunity and does not discriminate against applicants, students, or employees based on race, color, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, or disability.

East Carolina University seeks to fully comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Students requesting accommodation based on a covered disability must go to the Department for Disability Support Services, located in Brewster A-117, to verify the disability before any accommodations can occur. The phone number is (252) 328-6799