ENVI 5801: Social Science of the Environment

Ms Raewyn Graham

Credit Points: 6
Session: February (Weeks 1-7)
Prerequisites: None
Classes: 2 hours lectures per week and 2 hours tutorials per week plus directed reading.
Assessment: Essay and seminar preparation

This unit provides both a conceptual and an empirical foundation for the analysis of relationships between society, the environment and natural resources. Contexts for application of social science concepts to the environment include climate change, water resources management, forest issues and urban environmental quality. Students will deal with both broad theoretical approaches to the societal analysis of relationships between people and the environment, for example political ecology, and with specific themes including the sociological basis of collective action, property relations, resource tenure, decentralisation, participatory approaches to environmental and natural resource management, and systems of knowledge. The unit pays particular attention to the implications of heterogeneous and competing interests for environmental and natural resource management and explores ways of dealing with diverse stakeholder interests. Empirical material is drawn from various countries, with special emphasis on Southeast Asia and Australia. The aim of the unit is to provide conceptual tools that will be used in other units of study within the program and for application in analysis of resource and environmental management issues faced in real world decision-making contexts. The unit will draw on the professional experience and agency roles of participants. The unit is taught through a combination of lectures and reading-based seminars.