SOCIAL CHANGE AND ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS

ENVR 865 - 502

Spring 2003

Tuesday 6:00-8:50 P.M.

Basic Course Information:

Instructor:                      Dr. Robert J. Brulle

Office Location:              PSA Building, Room 303

Office Hours                  Tuesday 4:00 - 6:00 P.M. or by appointment

Telephone:                    Office:  (215) 895-2294

Email:                           brullerj@post.drexel.edu

Overview: This course provides an introduction to the processes of social change, and the key collective actors and institutions that are involved in the creation of U.S. environmental policies.  The aim of this course is to provide an understanding of the historical and social processes by which environmental policy is created and changed through a political process among a number of different coalitions.  The course starts with an examination of theories of social change.  It then reviews the major theoretical perspectives on collective behavior and social movements, including the perspectives of resource mobilization, political opportunity structure, frame analysis, network analysis, and ideologically structured action.   Based on these perspectives, the course examines the development of the various worldviews, organizations, and practices  that define U.S. environmental politics, including environmental advocacy organizations, and  foundations. The course provides an overview of the range of U.S. environmental movements.

Course Requirements:  This course has two course requirements as follows:

1.  Class Participation:  The key to success for this course is active participation by all involved.  What is sought is to develop a cooperative atmosphere of mutual learning.  The class should be seen as the cumulative development of a group conversation.  Active and meaningful participation in the class discussions is thus required. We want to be able to use the time together as a group to share and critique ideas.  Accordingly, the students should use the time between classes to read and become conversant with the material.  A key part in learning new ideas is through their use.  Each student will present a number of the readings.  For each presentation, the student will prepare and distribute a short written summary of the assigned readings (no more than one page).  In class, the student will present a brief description of ideas in the written summary, and what the particular reading adds to the overall conversation in the course.   Participation in class will constitute 40% of the course grade.

2.  Take Home Exams:  This course requires completion of two take home examinations in response to written questions provided by the instructor.  These questions will be designed to focus your application of the concepts covered in class, and will be approximately 2,500 words in length.  You are expected to work independently.  The two examinations will count for 60% of the course grade.

Required Texts:  This course has four required texts that are listed below.  In addition, a series of assigned readings are available on library reserve.

Beck, Ulrich, 1992, Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, Sage: Newbury Park, CA

Brulle, Robert J. 2000, Agency, Democracy, and Nature:  The U.S. Environmental Movement from a Critical Theory Perspective, MIT Press: Cambridge

Lester, James P. (ed.) 1995, Environmental Politics and Policy: Theory and Evidence, Second Edition, Duke University Press: Durham NC

Sztompka, Piotr, 1993, The Sociology of Social Change, Blackwell: Cambridge MA

Course Schedule

Week 1  April 1, 2003  Introduction and Course Overview

Week 2  April 8, 2003  Theories of Social Change

Sztompka, The Sociology of Social Change, Chapters 1, 5, 6-11

Week 3  April 15, 2003  Social Movements and Social Change

Sztompka, The Sociology of Social Change, Chapters 16-20

McCarthy John, and Zald, Mayer, 1987, Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory, in Zald & McCarthy (ed.) Social Movements in an Organizational Society

Tarrow, Sidney, 1996, States and Opportunities:  The Political Structuring of Social Movements, In McAdam, McCarthy, and Zald (ed.) Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements

Week 4 April 22, 2003  Language, Discourse, and Networks

Benford, Robert, and Snow, David, 2000, Framing Processes and Social Movements:  An Overview and Assessment, Annual Review of Sociology, 26:611-639

Podolny, Joel and Page, Karen 1998, Network Forms of Organization, Annual Review of Sociology, 24:57-76

Emirbayer, Mustafa, and Goodwin, Jeff, 1994, Network Analysis, Culture, and the Problem of Agency, American Journal of Sociology, 99:6, 1411-1454

Week 5  April 29, 2003 Ideologically Structured Action, the Mobilization of Individuals, and Outcomes

Zald, Mayer 2000, Ideologically Structured Action:  An Enlarged Agenda for Social Movement Research, Mobilization, 5:1 1-16

Polletta, Francesca, and Jasper, James, 2001, Collective Identity and Social Movements, Annual Review of Sociology, 27:283-305

Giugni, Marco, 1998, Was it worth the effort?  The Outcomes and Consequences of Social Movements, Annual Review of Sociology, 24:371-393

Week 6  May 6, 2003  Environmental Politics

Lester, Environmental Politics and Policy, Chapters 1 - 3, 6 - 10

Week 7  May 13, 2003  Environmental Movements

Lester, Environmental Politics and Policy, Chapters 4 & 5

Rootes, C., Forthcoming, Environmental Movements, in the Blackwell Companion to Social Movements.

Brulle, Robert and Jenkins, Craig, Forthcoming, Foundations and the Environmental Movement: Priorities, Strategies, and Impact, forthcoming in Foundations for Social Change

Week 8  May 20, 2003  The Risk Society

Beck, Risk Society

Week  9  May 27, 2003  Social Change and the Environment

Brulle, Agency, Democracy, and Nature

Week 10  June 3, 2003  Course Wrap Up