Environment and Society

Module title	Environment and Society
Module code	SOC3097
Academic year	2024/5
Credits	15
Module staff	Dr Astrid Schrader (Convenor)

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks	11

Number students taking module (anticipated)	30

Module description

This module introduces you to methodologies and approaches in Science and Technology Studies as they pertain to the analysis of environmental problems. We will explore how science, technology and society interact to determine what counts as an environmental problem. We will ask, for example:

How are possible responses to environmental crises shaped by technological development and assumptions about what counts as ‘nature’?
How do regulatory institutions deal with uncertainties in science?
Who is an expert and who contributes to environmental knowledge production?
How is environmental risk regulated in different countries?
What is the relationship between science and politics in various approaches to environmental problems?

These questions will be investigated with the help of a range of case studies. You will become familiar with debates around climate change, genetically modified foods, biodiversity, invasive species, indoor pollution and analyse responses to environmental disasters such as Chernobyl, Bhopal, Hurricane Katarina.

The module consists of a combination of lectures and seminar based discussions of pre-assigned readings. There are no prerequisites and it is suitable for non-specialist students in the social and natural sciences, the humanities and engineering and is highly appropriate for students following interdisciplinary pathways.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module explores how science, technology and society interact to determine what counts as an environmental problem. The aim of the module is to familiarize you with a wide range of environmental problems and methodologies to analyse them. An important focus will be the role of science and divergent understandings of nature in the analysis of environmental issues. You will learn how interdisciplinary approaches to controversies over environmental problems may complicate the debates and read popular media reports of environmental issues more critically. We will discuss the meanings, political uses, and abuses of uncertainties in science, the affirmations of risks and the relationships between environmental and social justice.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

1. demonstrate a clear understanding of different approaches to environmental problem and different roles of science.
2. critically asses conflicting meanings of scientific evidence, social responsibility, uncertainty in science and politics, and critically assess the depiction of environmental problems in popular media and the relationship between social and environmental justice

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

3. demonstrate critical awareness and understanding of a range of social scientific, historical, and philosophical perspectives;
4. identify the core theoretical assumptions
5. apply a range of theoretical and interpretive perspectives to the task of sociological and anthropological analysis;
6. demonstrate appreciation of the strengths, weaknesses and limitations of different and competing social scientific, historical, and philosophical perspectives.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

7. reflect on, and examine critically, taken-for-granted social, cultural and ethical assumptions, beliefs and values;
8. analyse, evaluate, and communicate, clearly and directly, a wide range of explanatory and interpretive theoretical perspectives; assess evidence, marshal facts and construct arguments

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

Introduction: Nature and the Environment in Science and Technology Studies
GM Foods
Climate Controversies and Consensus
Un/natural disaster
Scientific Uncertainties and Environmental Health
Wilderness Discourses and Social Natures
Environment and Social Justice
Making Species: Natives, Aliens and Endangered
Biodiversity: Concepts, Discourses and Practices
Experts, Laypeople and Other Animals
BSE Crisis – a British Example of “Risk Society”

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
22	128	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching activity	22	11 x 2 hour weekly lectures/seminars (or 1 hour lecture + 1 hour seminar)
Guided Independent study	66	Readings for seminars
Guided Independent study	62	Researching and writing the essay

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay proposal/plan	700 words	1-8	Written feedback

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method

Research essay	100	2,300 words	1-8	Written feedback
	0
	0
	0
	0
	0

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment

Research essay	Research essay (2,300 words)	1-8	August/September reassessment period

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Sample reading:

Yearley, Steven (2008), 'Nature and the Environment in Science and Technology Studies', in The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, Third Edition, eds. Edward J. Hackett, et al., Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 921-47.

Jasanoff, Sheila (2005), Designs on Nature; Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, Chapters 4&5.

Beck, U. (1992), Risk Society, London Sage

Gusterson, Hugh (2005), 'Decoding the Debate on 'Frankenfood'', in Making Threats: Biofears and Environmental Anxieties, eds. Betsy Hartmann, Banu Subramaniam, and Charles Zerner, Lanham, MA: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 109-33.

Latour, Bruno (2007), 'A Plea for Earthly Sciences', keynote lecture for the annual meeting of the British Sociological Association, East London, April 2007.

Smith, Neil (2005), 'There's No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster', in Understanding Katrina: Perspectives from the Social Sciences. SSRC Forum, New York, NY: Social Science Research Council.

Murphy, Michelle (2006), Sick Building Syndrome and the Problem of Uncertainty: Environmental Politics, Technoscience, and Women Workers; Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Chapters 4 & 5.

Cronon, William (1995), 'The Trouble with Wilderness or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature', in Uncommon Ground: Toward Reinventing Nature, ed. William Cronon, New York: W.W. Norton and Co, pp. 69 - 90.

Helmreich, Stefan (2005), 'How Scientists Think; About ‘Natives,’ for Example: A Problem of Taxonomy among Biologists of Alien Species in Hawaii', The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 11 (1), pp. 107-27

Thompson, Charis (2002), ‘When Elephants Stand for Competing Philosophies of Nature: Amboseli National Park’, in Complexities. John Law and Annemarie Mol, eds. (Duke UP), pp. 166-90.

Hinchliffe, Steve (2001), 'Indeterminacy In-Decisions: Science, Policy and Politics in the BSE Crisis', Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 26 (2), pp. 182-204.

Adam, Barbara (1998), 'Industrial Food for Thought', in Timescapes of Modernity: The Environment & Invisible Hazards, London: Routledge, pp. 127-62.

Key words search

Environment, Society, Nature, Risk, Uncertainty, Science, Philosophy, Anthropology, Sociology

Credit value	15
Module ECTS	7.5
Module pre-requisites	None
Module co-requisites	None
NQF level (module)	6
Available as distance learning?	No
Origin date	29/12/2015
Last revision date	28/01/2022