Examination arrangement

Course content

This course gives students insight into social science issues about sustainability. The course is based on the fact that climate change and environmental destruction are the major social challenges of our time. These affect society and people differently and create room for new and reinforced inequality. The challenge we as a society face is two-sided: How to deal with the consequences we already see today, and how to build a more sustainable society in the long-term?

In this course, students learn social science perspectives on the environment and climate, different traditions and schools. Students learn about how values affect the understanding of climate and environment, theories about how society can change, and how change can be understood as interaction between individual people's practices, social structure, technology and politics. We discuss the many roles of the sciences related to nature, climate and the environment, and the concept of sustainability and the inherent controversies of the sustainability goals. Students learn about risk and uncertainty and what role this plays in both long-term societal changes and society's ability to deal with the climate changes we see today. How can we become better at talking about and finding solutions to the sustainability challenges? What stimulates and hinders participation, social change, and the major societal shifts that are needed? What does climate change and policy mean for social inequality, power relations and and community life? How is climate and the environment communicated?

The course offers research-based and varied teaching that integrates academic content with methodological training in current and controversial issues.

• The teaching combines lectures, discussions, group work and practical projects. A field trip may be relevant.
• The course encourages interactive learning through debate and joint reading and dissemination of texts.
• The course includes a practical case study that is relevant to today's climate and environmental challenges.

Overall, the course provides students with both theoretical and analytical competence and practical tools to work with climate and environmental issues in a broad field of practice, both within and outside academia.

Learning outcome

Knowledge - the student shall:

• have in-depth knowledge of the sociology's approach to sustainability.
• have in depth insight into the concept of sustainability, the sustainability goals and goal conflicts related to the fulfillment of these.
• have in-depth knowledge of the relationship between society and nature.
• understand how different knowledge regimes compete and cooperate within the climate and environmental field.
• be able to formulate and analyze socially relevant issues about climate, sustainability and the environment, and classify the climate debate within professional discussions.

Skills - the student shall demonstrate the ability to:

• develop a project within a current climate and environment-related public debate, and communicate this in writing and orally.
• independently analyze and discuss a topic that is addressed in the course and convey this in academic written form.
• reflect orally on the perspectives presented in the course and his/ her own work in the course.

Learning methods and activities

Lectures/group discussions. Supervision of the paper. The paper is to be an independent discussion of a topic taught in lectures. If 6 or fewer students sign up for a planned course during the first 2 teaching weeks, the course will be offered as an instructed reading course.

Further on evaluation

Form of assessment: Group-based research assignment and individual paper. An identical version of the exam paper cannot be used directly in the PhD thesis as an article or a chapter. A revised version of the exam paper may be included in the thesis. When repeating a failed exam, the candidate can submit a revised version of a previously submitted paper in the course. If the submission is a revised version of a previously submitted paper, this must be specified in the paper.

Required previous knowledge

Master's degree in Sociology or equivalent.

Course materials

To be decided at the start of the course.

Credit reductions