Sociology of the Urban Environment

Catalog description

The primary objective of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the fundamental sociological and various social science, humanities, and environmental perspectives on the urban environment. We will also engage with related fields such as political ecology, urban political and urban ecology, political economy of the environment, racial ecologies, and the general study of urban and environmental issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. Further, weaved within the entire course will be a emphasis on important issues related to social and environmental in/justices, including inequality, poverty, stratification, racism, and racial, gender, and sexual orientation inequality (among a number of other related issues). To do this, we will examine specific social and societal institutions including (but not limited to) housing, work, criminal in/justice and mass incarceration, pollution and neighborhoods, healthcare, public and environmental health, government and politics, public policies and a number of specific programs associated with all of those institutions. Additionally, we will discuss the history of urban policies and urban development, and environmental policies and related programs, as they all relate to the sociological concepts, issues, and institutions outlined previously. Lastly, we will explore the practices of inquiry and analysis associated with sociological and other social science approaches from a liberal arts perspective.