SOC 303
Cultures of Climate Change
Spring 2014
Division II
Writing Skills
Cross-listed
ENVI 303
This is not the current course catalog
Class Details
This course asks why people think and talk about climate change in such very different ways. Climate change is a physical phenomenon that can be observed, quantified, and measured. But it is also an idea, and as such it is subject to the vagaries of cultural interpretation. Despite scientific agreement about its existence and its causes, many people do not see climate change as a serious problem, or as a problem at all. Many others see it as the most serious problem our species has ever faced. What are the sources of this disparity? Why can’t we agree about climate change? How does something as complex and confusing as climate change become a “problem” in the first place? This course will explore a broad array of factors, from religion to race, class to colonialism. It will focus especially closely on the communication of scientific knowledge, risk perception, and environmental ethics, and it will apply a range of theories from the social sciences and humanities to a set of concrete case studies In the climate change debate, culture matters. By investigating how culture shapes the politics and policy of climate change, students will develop the interpretive skills required to understand not just this most contentious of issues, but environmental issues in general.
The Class:
Format: seminar
Limit: 19
Expected: 19
Class#: 3374
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Limit: 19
Expected: 19
Class#: 3374
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation:
a 15- to 18-page research paper and several shorter writing assignments
Prerequisites:
ENVI 101
Enrollment Preferences:
ENVI majors and concentrators first; ANSO majors second
Distributions:
Division II
Writing Skills
Notes:
This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
ENVI 303 Division II SOC 303 Division II
ENVI 303 Division II SOC 303 Division II
Attributes:
ENVI Humanities, Arts + Social Science Electives
Class Grid
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HEADERS
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CLASSESColumn header 2DREQColumn header 3INSTRUCTORSColumn header 4TIMESColumn header 5CLASS#
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SOC 303 - 01 (S) SEM Cultures of Climate Change
SOC 303 - 01 (S) SEM Cultures of Climate ChangeDivision II Writing SkillsCancelled3374
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