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85271 Environment and Society
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Danish title: Miljø og samfund
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| Type: Å, Language: DDD |
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Credit points:
5 point |
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| | | Previous course: C8535 |
| Offered by:
Department of Technology and Social Sciences
(ITS) |
| No credit points with: C8535 |
| Prerequisite: (Elementær teknologiforståelse.) |
| Recommended semester:
4th -7th semester |
| Limitation: Max. 30 |
| Scope and form: 3 weeks (8 hours daily). |
| Examination:
Evaluation of report(s)
(13 point scale
) |
| Contact person: |
Lauge Baungaard Rasmussen, ITS, Building 305, Tel. +45 4525 2087
Inge Røpke, ITS, Building 322, Tel. +45 4525 6009 |
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| Aim: To improve the ability of the students to analyze environmental problem in a social context and to discuss different technological solutions from the perspective of political and economic considerations. Furthermore, to motivate the students to consider fundamental questions concerning the view of nature and the relationship between this view and the technological practice of society. |
Contents: The starting point of the course is the Danish environmental regulation, especially the regulation of industrial production. Some factual information on the history as well as the present features of environmental regulation is provided, however, the main emphasis of the course is to strengthen the understanding of the social and cultural background of environmental problems, thus providing a qualified basis for discussing possible policy measures. Environmental questions are elucidated from several different perspectives, based on social sciences and the humanities:
- Political science: how are environmental policies shaped, and which problems of implementation do they encounter?
- Economics: how is the background of environmental problems conceived in mainstream economic theory, and which policy measures are suggested? Which critical perspectives can be applied in relation to mainstream economics?
- Social psychology: how has the consciousness relating to environmental problems changed, and what are the possibilities of action as well as the barriers on the subjective level?
- Philosophical: how has the view of nature changed historically, what are the possibilities of changing the presently dominating view of nature, and what are the relations between this view and technological change?
The presentation of different scientific perspectives opens up the possibility of mutual critical assessment, and it is stressed that simple solutions are not available. The more specific topics of the course are varied from time to time. |
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