Delta State University

SOC 422/522 COD 522

Spring Semester 2005

Study Questions, Week 1
 

Topic for the Week:

Conceptual Framework

Readings for the Week:

Buttel, Frederick H. 2002. Environmental sociology and the sociology of natural resources: institutional histories and intellectual legacies. Society and Natural Resources 15:205–211.

Dunlap, Riley E. and William R. Catton, Jr. 2002. Which function(s) of the environment do we study? A comparison of environmental and natural resource sociology. Society and Natural Resources 15:239–249.

Questions:

(1)  What are the most important distinctions between environmental and natural resources sociology?

(2)  What are the primary issues/topics that natural resources sociologists study?  What concepts do they use to study these issues?  What are the primary issues/topics that environmental sociologists study?  What concepts do they use?

(3)  Do you think environmental sociology and natural resources sociology are distinct disciplines, or are they essentially the same field of study?  Why?

(4)  Are the concepts of “supply depot,” “waste repository,” and “living space” useful for helping us to understand human-environment relations?  Under what conditions are they helpful?  What are some drawbacks to this typology?