Social Justice and Environment

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID: SOC 439
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: These open and free materials are used in an undergraduate sociology course that serves as an upper division elective for Sociology, Criminology and Justice Studies, and Enivronmental Studies majors. Materials include online materials and databases, along with films and readings available through library reserves. The main motivation to adopt open and reserve materials was the affordability of textbooks on the part of the students, and the ability to be flexible and timely about the topics covered in the class. After using a leading textbook reader, I noticed that most material was available through my campus library, which is where students are now directed for these materials.

Social Justice and Environment - SOC 439
Brief Description of course highlights: This course is designed to expose students to the field of Environmental Sociology and familiarize students with existing issues, such as the climate crisis, and current debates among scholars and activists. Within sociology, we will explore questions related to how capitalism as a social structure can also be sustainable, how knowledge about environmental degradation is socially constructed, and how forms of oppression interact with environmental issues.  https://catalog.csusm.edu/search_advanced.php?cur_cat_oid=9&ecpage=1&cpage=1&ppage=1&pcpage=1&spage=1&tpage=1&search_database=Search&filter%5Bkeyword%5D=SOC+439&filter%5B3%5D=1&filter%5B31%5D=1&filter%5B1%5D=1&filter%5B28%5D=1&filter%5B30%5D=1 

Student population:   The student population is mostly made up of Criminology and Justice Studies majors who often have not been exposed to issues around environmentalism, Sociology majors who have interest and are taking it as an elective, and Environmental studies students needing to fill social science requirements. The backgrounds range from students that want to explore these issues in their professional lives and students who are encountering these ideas for the first time. 

Learning or student outcomes:  Upon successful completion of this course, students will...
1. Apply the sociological imagination to environmental issues, conflicts, and solutions.
2. Assess and evaluate the competing theoretical approaches in environmental sociology as they relate to individual and collective solutions.
3. Articulate the ethical and social justice implications of environmental problems and movements.
4. Explain how economic, cultural, and political systems relate to the destruction of nature and sustainability practices.

Sample assignment from the course or the adoption: Since many students are new to environmental issues, we spend the 1st section of the course learning about various ecological issues with special attention to the climate crisis. Students complete a 3-page reflection paper addressing how your sociological imagination relates to causes and solutions to the climate crisis.

You are not allowed to use outside sources, and you must cite all sources used. You must cite all sources used. You are welcome to incorporate your own experiences and you can address the paper from macrosociological perspective and/or microsociological perspectives. You should have the following sections:
I. Introduction
II. Overview of the sociological imagination and the climate crisis
III Application of the sociological imagination to causes of climate change
IV Application of sociological imagination to possible solutions to climate change
V Conclusion

Key challenges faced and how resolved: Identify content that was appropriate for the varied backgrounds of my students. One of the best resources was participating in a CSU-wide Teaching Climate Change and Resilience faculty learning community. This experience exposed me to a variety of available online sources. Another resource was the CSUSM library which allowed me to find some of the same resources that were in textbook readers to make available for students to download.

Instructor Name - Chris Hardnack
I am a lecturer in Sociology and Criminology and Justice Studies programs at Cal State San Marcos. https://www.csusm.edu/sociology/facdirectory.html 

Please provide a link to your university page. https://www.csusm.edu/sociology/facdirectory.html
Please describe the courses you teach
I regularly teach courses in sociological theory, research methods, and Social Justice and Environment. I have also taught theory and qualitative research methods at the graduate level.

Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.  One of the key objectives in my course is to have students apply the material to their own lives and see the connections between sociological topics and their own life experiences. In addition, I favor breadth over depth in the subject matter. I believe that sociology has a nearly infinite set of foci to choose from, and students need to see as many of these as possible. Unfortunately, the constraints of the class schedule and the breadth of the topics that are required in sociology classes can limit the curiosity of the student. To combat this, I design assignments that allow students the freedom to choose what area, theorist, or concepts they want to explore. In short, my job is to present the doors they could walk through and let them choose which door to open. In the online environment, I strive to provide a sense of human connection by utilizing video and audio presentations where I am available to present material in a down to earth and engaging fashion.

Broadly my research interests are in the field of social movement studies where I am particularly interested in how social movements articulate critiques of political and economic arrangements. I am currently working on a book a manuscript on how the social movements interpret the context neoliberal capitalism. In relations to teaching, I am exploring student experiences with threshold concepts in environmental sociology.

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option. The main motivation for using low cost resources was to be able to have more control and flexibility in my course. This was important to me considering the unique course objectives and needs of my students.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? Most materials were found through my Library’s databases, particularly Sociological Abstracts. Many of the selections were included in textbook readers but were also available to put on reserve. I also found sources through faculty learning communities on issues related to the course.

Sharing Best Practices: My suggestion is to utilize “backward design” and identify needed materials based on course objectives. Keep in mind that we are not the only ones teaching these topics and some material might be available through online sources. If you’re new to a class, see what is being included in readers and anthologies and see if these materials are available through other means.

Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved  and lessons learned. One of the challenges is figuring out a system to manage the sources with. I took the mindset that my course is similar to a research project and used Zotero to manage the material I was considering and using. Another challenge is that the material might start at a high level and require some background explanation of basic knowledge needed to comprehend material. 

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: SOC 439 Readings

Brief Description: In order to reduce costs and incorporate customized content, I relied on three sources. First, there is no shortage of documentaries on environmental issues and many are avialible for free or via campus libraries. Second, considering that so much material included in textbook readers is taken from scholarly journals, I used library databased for scholarly journals to find readings on a wide range of topics including the social construction of nature, foundational readings on political economy and environmental justice. Third, there are several incredibly useful resources for building content and activities through various online platforms such as the following:

Select Films Soc 439: 
Clay, Jonathon. 2021. Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet. Netflix

Dannoritzer, Cosima. 2011 The Light Bulb Conspiracy 2011. San Francisco, CA: The Video Project.

Gibbs. Jeff. 2019. Planet of the Humans. Huran Mountain Films

Rawal, Sanjay. 2020. Gather. Illumine

Select web resources: 
Intersectional Environmentalist: https://intersectionalenvironmentalist.com/ Environmental Protection Agency’s EJSCREEN: https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen  

Global Footprint Network: https://www.footprintnetwork.org 

Ouriya, Asmae and Mary Limerick. 2020. All you ever wanted to know about ecofeminism. https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0221/1116323-ecofeminism/ 

Owen, David. 2010. "The Efficiency Dilemma" in The New Yorker. December. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/12/20/the-efficiency-dilemma 

Project Drawdown’s Climate Solutions 101: https://drawdown.org/climate-solutions-101 

The All We Can Save Project: https://www.allwecansave.earth/

Selected Readings for SOC 439 available through most academic libraries: 
Alkon, Alison Hope, and Kari Marie Norgaard. 2009. “Breaking the Food Chains: A investigation of Food Justice Activism.” Sociological Inquiry. Vol 79. No. 3 

Angelo, Hillary, and Colin Jerolmack. 2012. “Nature’s Looking-Glass.” Contexts 11(1):24–29. 

“How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering” in New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/24/climate/racism-redlining-cities-global-warming.html 

Dietz, Thomas, Rachael L. Shwom, and Cameron T. Whitley. 2020. “Climate Change and Society.” Annual Review of Sociology 46(1):135–58. 

Longo, Stefano B, & Clausen, Rebecca. (2011). The Tragedy of the Commodity. Organization & Environment, 24(3), 312–328. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026611419860 

Maung, Rebecca and David N. Pellow. 2021. “Environmental Justice” in Handbook of Environmental Sociology. Edited by Beth Schaefer Caniglia, Andrew Jorgenson, Stephanie A. Malin, Lori Peek, David N. Pellow, Xiaorui Huang, Editors. Cham, Switzerland: Springer 

Norgaard, Kari Marie. 2018. “The Sociological Imagination in a Time of Climate Change.” Global and Planetary Change 163:171–76. 

Saito, Kohei. Chapter 1: “Climate Change and the Imperial Mode of Living” in Saito, Kohei. 2024. Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto. [Library reserve]

Vail, Benjamin. (2008). Ecological Modernization at Work? Environmental Policy Reform in Sweden at the Turn of the Century. Scandinavian Studies, 80(1), 85–108.

York, Richard, and Julius Alexander McGee. 2016. “Understanding the Jevons Paradox.” Environmental Sociology 2(1):77–87.

Student access:  Readings are listed in the syllabus and are accessed online or through the CSUSM Library.  

Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook.  When I first taught the course using a text reader, and an anthology textbook the cost was around $150. Over the years I brought the cost down to $100 and now the cost is $0 to the students.

License: All materials are copyrighted but are available for free online through organization’s websites or access through the library databases