STS 51-6962 *Fall 1996 *W 6:30-9:20pm *Sage Lab 5203
Steve Breyman
Department of Science and Technology Studies
Sage Lab 5207 *x8515 *breyms@rpi.edu
MW 1:00-2:00pm and by appointment

ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL THEORY

Course Objectives

Environmental problems are essentially social, economic and political problems. The technical and scientific manifestations of problems like soil erosion or acid rain are but symptoms of problems rooted in human and institutional behavior governed by the stuff of the social sciences: economic systems, ideologies, social norms, values, laws, politics and policies. Great strides have been made toward identifying, understanding, and (to a considerably lesser extent) coping with or resolving environmental problems during the twentieth century. Paradoxically, the same scientific and technological worldviews and techniques that allow us to identify environmental problems are also major generators of them. But science and technology do not operate in a vacuum. They are socially constructed systems of social relations and artifacts, methods and mindsets. Science and technology are social constituents and constituitive of society. Power and ideology, class and race, gender and culture, must all be taken into account, and mobilized as conceptual tools, when trying to understand the environmental implications of science and technology. But, as we shall see, classical social theory did not bequeath us a ready-to-use legacy for understanding and coping with environmental problems. We must, therefore, turn to contemporary social theory for help in understanding the historical origins, institutional structures, and dominant trajectories of environmental-social change. We look especially closely at the work of Anthony Giddens, André Gorz, Jürgen Habermas, Ulrich Beck, and some leading social movement theorists. The focus in this course, which earns social science credit only, is on societies and polities in the North. Three main questions structure our inquiry into the links among science, technology, environment, and social theory: (1) why do modern societies degrade their environments? (2) why do environmental movements arise, or what are the social structural, cultural and political origins of environmentalism? and (3) can some particular environmental politics curtail environmental degradation? We address these questions through an examination of the origins and consequences of environmental degradation and the role of culture and politics in facilitating and controlling degradation; the conditions under which environmental politics are mobilized; the causal role of ideas and interests in that mobilization; the constraints under which environmental politics operate, and thus some of the conditions of political success and failure.

Course Requirements and Evaluation

We meet in seminar once per week, on Wednesday evenings. We have weekly, common readings around which we focus our discussion. Each class meeting begins with a brief rehearsal of the assigned author's argument (by me or another seminar participant), proceeds to a critique of the argument, and then turns to pursuit of a set of questions sparked by the reading and critique, and guided by the overarching course questions. Each student should have prepared argument, critique, and questions in advance of the seminar meeting. You write a research paper that draws on, advances and critiques contemporary social or political theory to analyze some important environmental question or problem. Paper topics must be chosen and cleared with me early in the semester. The goal of the paper is to produce a journal article manuscript of publishable quality, or a document that will figure prominently in your thesis or dissertation. You present a conference-version of your paper the last day of class. Presentations should be accompanied by typed outlines to hand-out to fellow seminar participants. 40 percent of your course grade derives from class participation, 50 percent from the paper, and 10 percent from the presentation. I assume everyone will excel.

Required Texts and Library Reserve

The following books will be available in the Book Store at the Union. One copy of each reading will also be on two-hour reserve at Folsom Library (or left in the grad lounge if you'd prefer). A large number of pertinent books will also be on reserve for this class at Folsom. These will aid you in paper writing, and be available for deeper study of the course questions.

Ulrich Beck, Ecological Politics in an Age of Risk (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995).

Mark Dowie, Losing Ground: American Environmentalism at the Close of the Twentieth Century (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995).

David Goldblatt, Social Theory and the Environment (Boulder: Westview, 1996).

André Gorz, Ecology as Politics (London: Pluto Press, 1980).

Jürgen Habermas, Legitimation Crisis (Boston: Beacon Press, 1973).

Enrique Laraña, Hank Johnston, and Joseph R. Gusfield, eds., New Social Movements: From Ideology to Identity (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1994).

Michael Parenti, Democracy for the Few 6th ed. (New York: St. Martin's, 1995).

Brian Tokar, The Green Alternative: Creating an Ecological Future 2nd ed. (San Pedro: R. & E. Miles, 1992).

Course Schedule and Reading Assignments

Aug 28 Introduction: Social Theory, STS, and the Environment

David Goldblatt, "Introduction;"

Steven Yearley, "The Environmental Challenge to Science Studies," in Sheila Jasanoff, et al., eds., Handbook of Science and Technology Studies (Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1995).

Note: I assume two things at the outset of the course: (1) environmental problems of all descriptions are generally severe, serious, and worsening (there are, of course, exceptions, but as a rule, statements to the contrary are interesting only as sociological phenomena&emdash;instances of "backlash" or counter-movement propaganda&emdash;and not as empirical statements); and (2) you are generally familiar with the science and extent of environmental problems. If you do not agree with (1), you are probably in the wrong class. If (2) is not a safe assumption, see Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, and Jørgen Randers, Beyond the Limits: Confronting Global Collapse, Envisioning a Sustainable Future (Post Mills, VT: Chelsea Green, 1992), chapters 1-3, or Barry Commoner, Making Peace With the Planet (New York: Pantheon, 1990)&emdash;both will be on reserve.

Sep 4 Giddens: Capitalism, Industrialism, Urbanism and Globalization

Goldblatt, chaps. 2-3

Sep 11 Gorz: The Political Ecology of Capitalism

André Gorz, Ecology as Politics

Goldblatt, chap. 3

Sep 18 Beck: The Sociology of Risk

Ulrich Beck, Ecological Politics in an Age of Risk, chap. x-y

Goldblatt, chap. 5

Sep 25 Beck: The Sociology of Risk II

Beck, Ecological Politics in an Age of Risk, y-z

Oct 2 Habermas: Crises and the Origins of Contemporary Environmentalism

Jürgen Habermas, Legitimation Crisis

Goldblatt, chap. 6.

Oct 23 Culture, Identity and Actors in New Social Movements

Enrique Laraña et al., eds., New Social Movements, chaps. 1-7.

Oct 30 NSM: Actors, Action and Change

Laraña et al., eds., New Social Movements, chaps. 8-14.

Nov 6 The Limits of the Possible

Michael Parenti, Democracy for the Few

Nov 13 U.S. Environmentalism: Past, Present, and Future

Mark Dowie, Losing Ground: American Environmentalism at the Close of the Twentieth Century

Nov 20 A Green Future?

Brian Tokar, The Green Alternative: Creating an Ecological Future

Dec 4 Presentations