extreme final set!!!
📚 FLASHCARDS — ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY FINAL
🌱 Environmental Sociology Basics
Q: What is environmental sociology?
A: The study of how humans and nature affect one another socially, politically, and economically.
Q: What two core questions does environmental sociology ask?
A: Why people treat nature the way they do, and who benefits or is harmed.
Q: Why is environmental concern considered social rather than personal?
A: Because it is shaped by culture, power, institutions, and inequality.
🧠 Ideology & Environmental Concern
Q: What is an ideology?
A: A shared set of beliefs about how the world works and what matters.
Q: What does “environmental concern” mean?
A: The level of care, worry, or action people take toward environmental protection.
Q: What actions can show environmental concern?
A: Voting, protesting, recycling, supporting laws, or lifestyle changes.
🔄 Issue‑Attention Cycle
Q: What is the issue‑attention cycle?
A: A pattern where public concern rises after a crisis and fades over time.
Q: Why does environmental concern decline after peaks?
A: People become emotionally exhausted or distracted by other issues.
Q: What is compassion fatigue?
A: Emotional burnout from prolonged exposure to social or environmental problems.
💰 Social Status & Environmentalism
Q: Do wealthy people always care more about the environment?
A: No — concern does not consistently increase with wealth.
Q: What is “environmentalism of the poor”?
A: The idea that poor and marginalized communities often care deeply because they experience environmental harm first.
Q: Why is environmentalism of the poor important for exams?
A: It challenges postmaterialist assumptions.
🧩 Theory 1: Postmaterialism
Q: What is postmaterialism?
A: The theory that people care more about the environment once basic needs are met.
Q: What are material values?
A: Priorities focused on survival, safety, and economic security.
Q: What are post‑material values?
A: Priorities focused on quality of life, freedom, and environmental protection.
Q: Who developed postmaterialism theory?
A: Ronald Inglehart.
Q: What is a major criticism of postmaterialism?
A: It cannot explain environmental concern among poor communities.
🌍 Theory 2: Paradigm Shift
Q: What is a paradigm?
A: A broad way of thinking about how humans relate to the world.
Q: What is the Human Exemptionalism Paradigm (HEP)?
A: The belief that humans are separate from nature and can overcome limits through technology.
Q: What is the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP)?
A: The belief that humans are part of nature and must respect ecological limits.
Q: Why is the paradigm shift criticized?
A: Real beliefs are mixed and cannot be reduced to two categories.
🏭 Theory 3: Ecological Modernization
Q: What is ecological modernization?
A: The idea that environmental problems can be solved through smarter industry and regulation.
Q: How does ecological modernization view pollution?
A: As inefficiency that can be fixed.
Q: What role does technology play in ecological modernization?
A: It helps reduce waste and improve efficiency.
Q: Name two global agreements tied to ecological modernization.
A: Montreal Protocol and Kyoto Protocol.
Q: What is a major criticism of ecological modernization?
A: It is overly optimistic and works unevenly across countries.
🌿 Chapter 9: The Human Nature of Nature
Q: What does “human nature of nature” mean?
A: That nature is real, but our understanding of it is shaped by society.
Q: Why is the idea of “nature” powerful and dangerous?
A: It can justify inequality and excuse harm.
Q: What does it mean to “naturalize” something?
A: To present social systems as inevitable or biologically determined.
⚖ Moral Views of Nature
Q: What is moral holism?
A: The belief that humans are part of nature and nature has moral value.
Q: What is moral separatism?
A: The belief that humans are separate and only humans matter morally.
Q: Why do these views cause tension?
A: People often believe both at the same time.
🏞 Wilderness & Social Construction
Q: How is wilderness defined?
A: Land untouched by humans.
Q: Why is wilderness socially constructed?
A: Humans decide where it exists and who is excluded.
Q: What does social construction of nature mean?
A: Nature is real, but meanings are shaped by culture and power.
🧬 Nature, Capitalism & Racism
Q: What does “naturalizing capitalism” mean?
A: Claiming capitalism is natural and unavoidable.
Q: Why is naturalizing capitalism dangerous?
A: It makes inequality seem inevitable.
Q: What is scientific racism?
A: The misuse of science to justify racial inequality.
Q: Name one example of scientific racism.
A: Craniometry or climate determinism.
🔬 Realism vs Constructionism
Q: What do realists believe about nature?
A: Nature exists independently of humans.
Q: What do constructionists believe?
A: Knowledge about nature is shaped by society.
Q: What is critical realism?
A: Nature is real, but our understanding is socially shaped.
🧳 Tourism & Nature
Q: How does tourism affect nature?
A: It turns landscapes into products.
Q: What are “ghosts of place”?
A: Romanticized histories used to sell landscapes.
Q: What is environmental exclusion?
A: When people are pushed out of protected spaces.
✝ Christianity & Environmental Domination
Q: What is meant by “ideology of environmental domination”?
A: A belief system that justifies human control and exploitation of nature.
Q: How did Christianity contribute to environmental domination?
A: By placing humans above nature and framing nature as something to be used.
Q: What does “anthropocentric” mean?
A: A human‑centered worldview that values nature mainly for human use.
Q: How does Christianity promote anthropocentrism?
A: Humans are created in God’s image and given authority over nature.
📜 Biblical Mandate
Q: What is the biblical mandate regarding nature?
A: Humans are commanded to dominate and use the Earth.
Q: Why is the biblical mandate important sociologically?
A: It legitimizes environmental exploitation as morally acceptable.
Q: Is the biblical mandate a suggestion or command?
A: A command.
🧠 Max Weber: Protestant Ethic & Capitalism
Q: Who was Max Weber?
A: A sociologist who studied the relationship between religion and capitalism.
Q: What is The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism about?
A: How Protestant beliefs helped shape capitalist values.
Q: What is predestination?
A: The belief that salvation is decided at birth.
Q: Who are “the elect”?
A: Those believed to be chosen for salvation.
💼 Calling, Work & Wealth
Q: What is a “calling” in Protestantism?
A: One’s God‑given purpose, often expressed through work.
Q: Why did work become morally important?
A: Hard work was seen as evidence of being among the elect.
Q: How did this create moral anxiety?
A: People constantly sought signs of salvation through success.
Q: Why was wealth accumulation encouraged?
A: It signaled discipline and divine favor.
🏦 Asceticism & Capital Accumulation
Q: What is asceticism?
A: Living simply and avoiding luxury.
Q: Why did asceticism support capitalism?
A: People earned money but didn’t spend it, leading to reinvestment.
Q: How did asceticism shape capitalist development?
A: It promoted saving, reinvestment, and economic growth.
🌍 Protestantism & Environmental Use
Q: How is environmental exploitation linked to Protestant beliefs?
A: Nature was seen as a resource for fulfilling one’s calling.
Q: Why did Western societies exploit nature more aggressively?
A: Religious beliefs justified transforming the environment.
⚙ Science, Technology & Domination
Q: How did Western science aid environmental exploitation?
A: Through inventions that increased extraction and control.
Q: Name two technologies that enabled environmental domination.
A: Steam power and machine power.
Q: Why was the plow symbolically important?
A: It represented humans “splitting” the Earth.
🌎 Indigenous vs Western Views
Q: How did Native American views of nature differ from Europeans?
A: Indigenous cultures emphasized connection and respect.
Q: Why were Native Americans puzzled by Europeans?
A: Europeans treated land as something to own and exploit.
📖 Lynn White’s Argument
Q: Who was Lynn White?
A: A historian who linked Christianity to environmental crisis.
Q: What was White’s main argument?
A: Christianity made environmental domination morally acceptable.
Q: How did Christianity change views of God and nature?
A: God became transcendent, not part of nature.
Q: Why did this matter?
A: Nature lost sacred status and became exploitable.
🌱 Critiques & Green Christianity
Q: What is a criticism of Lynn White’s argument?
A: Christianity is not uniformly anti‑environmental.
Q: What is Green Christianity?
A: Religious movements emphasizing stewardship of nature.
Q: How does Noah’s Ark support environmental care?
A: It frames humans as protectors of animals and ecosystems.
☯ Non‑Western Philosophies
Q: How do non‑Western philosophies differ from Western domination?
A: They emphasize harmony rather than control.
Q: What is Daoism’s view of nature?
A: Humans should flow with nature, not dominate it.
Q: What does “non‑action” mean in Daoism?
A: Acting in accordance with natural processes.
💧 Daoism & Environmental Wisdom
Q: Why is water important in Daoist philosophy?
A: It symbolizes adaptability and natural flow.
Q: Why is swimming upstream discouraged?
A: It wastes energy and disrupts balance.
Q: What is the environmental lesson of Daoism?
A: Respect natural limits and processes.
🧠 Exam‑Level Insight
Q: How do religion and ideology shape environmental behavior?
A: They define what is morally acceptable and “natural.”
Q: Why is Weber important for environmental sociology?
A: He shows how beliefs shape economic and environmental systems.
📚 FLASHCARDS — BODY, GENDER & ENVIRONMENTAL DOMINATION
🧍♂ Individualism & Environmental Thought
Q: What is individualism?
A: An ideology emphasizing personal responsibility over collective responsibility.
Q: How does individualism affect environmental thinking?
A: It discourages thinking about interconnected systems and shared consequences.
Q: Why does individualism support competition?
A: It prioritizes self‑interest over community well‑being.
Q: Why is individualism problematic for environmental justice?
A: Environmental problems require collective solutions.
🧠 The Body & Ecology
Q: Why does sociology study the body in environmental thought?
A: How we view our bodies shapes how we view nature.
Q: What does “the body is ecological” mean?
A: Humans constantly exchange matter and energy with the environment.
🎭 Bakhtin: Carnivalesque vs Classical Body
Q: Who was Mikhail Bakhtin?
A: A theorist who studied cultural meanings of the body.
🎉 Carnivalesque Body
Q: What is the carnivalesque body?
A: A body that is open, expressive, and connected to others and nature.
Q: What are features of the carnivalesque body?
A: Dancing, eating, drinking, humor, exposed skin.
Q: Why is the carnivalesque body ecological?
A: It emphasizes exchange between body and environment.
Q: What does “lower stratum” mean?
A: Bodily functions and processes usually hidden in polite society.
👔 Classical (Buttoned‑Up) Body
Q: What is the classical body?
A: A controlled, closed, and disciplined body.
Q: What are features of the classical body?
A: Covered skin, controlled behavior, hidden bodily functions.
Q: How does the classical body relate to social class?
A: It signals elite status and separation from nature.
Q: Why is nature seen as offensive in the classical body view?
A: Bodily and ecological connections are treated as shameful.
⚖ Balancing Body Conceptions
Q: Why is neither body conception ideal alone?
A: Pure carnival ignores hygiene; pure control denies ecological reality.
Q: How did the 1970s challenge classical body norms?
A: Through feminism, environmentalism, and bodily liberation.
♀ Feminism & Environmental Awareness
Q: How does feminism relate to environmental awareness?
A: Both challenge domination and emphasize connection.
Q: Why are women often more environmentally active?
A: Social roles emphasize care, health, and community.
🧱 Patriarchy & Environmental Domination
Q: What is patriarchy?
A: A social system where men hold most power.
Q: What is heteropatriarchy?
A: A system privileging heterosexual men.
Q: How does patriarchy support environmental domination?
A: It values control, aggression, and exploitation.
🚺 Women & Nature in Western Thought
Q: How have women been associated with nature historically?
A: Through reproduction, domestic labor, and caregiving.
Q: Why is this association problematic?
A: Nature is treated as inferior and controllable.
Q: How does this justify domination?
A: Both women and nature are framed as needing control.
💼 Gender Inequality & Environment
Q: What is the feminization of poverty?
A: Women and children experience poverty at higher rates.
Q: What is the “second shift”?
A: Unpaid domestic labor after paid work.
Q: How does gender inequality affect environmental exposure?
A: Women face more toxins and environmental risks.
🧴 Gendered Environmental Harms
Q: Give an example of gendered environmental exposure.
A: Toxins in beauty products.
Q: Why are women more affected by environmental bads?
A: Economic inequality and caregiving roles.
🌍 Gender & Environmental Activism
Q: Who is more likely to engage in environmental activism?
A: Women.
Q: Why does masculinity discourage environmental concern?
A: It values risk‑taking and emotional suppression.
Q: Name male‑dominated industries linked to environmental harm.
A: Coal, mining, timber.
🧠 Exam‑Level Insight
Q: How do body norms shape environmental ideology?
A: They influence whether we see ourselves as connected or separate from nature.
Q: Why is feminism important in environmental sociology?
A: It exposes power, inequality, and care work.
🌍 World‑Systems Theory Basics
Q: What is world‑systems theory?
A: A framework explaining global inequality through economic and political relationships.
Q: Who developed world‑systems theory?
A: Immanuel Wallerstein.
Q: What is the core idea of world‑systems theory?
A: Wealthy nations benefit by extracting resources from poorer regions.
🧭 Core, Semi‑Periphery & Periphery
Q: What is the core?
A: Wealthy, powerful nations that control capital and technology.
Q: What is the periphery?
A: Poorer regions that supply raw materials and labor.
Q: What is the semi‑periphery?
A: Regions that are both exploited and exploit others.
Q: Why is the semi‑periphery important?
A: It is often a site of innovation and change.
🏭 Corporations & Power
Q: Why are corporations central to world‑systems theory?
A: They drive extraction and depend on states for stability.
Q: How do laws and taxes affect corporations globally?
A: Corporations move operations to places with fewer regulations.
🔄 Hegemonic Cycles & Innovation
Q: What is a hegemonic cycle?
A: Periods where one nation dominates economically and politically.
Q: What is the Kondratieff cycle?
A: A roughly 50‑year cycle of economic growth tied to technology.
Q: Name technologies linked to Kondratieff cycles.
A: Oil, electricity, nuclear power.
🌱 Advantages of Backwardness
Q: What does “advantages of backwardness” mean?
A: Late‑developing regions can adopt newer technologies without old costs.
Q: Why does this matter environmentally?
A: It can reduce investment in outdated, polluting systems.
🍬 Sidney Mintz: Sugar & Power
Q: Who was Sidney Mintz?
A: A sociologist who studied sugar and capitalism.
Q: What is Sweetness and Power about?
A: How sugar shaped global capitalism and inequality.
Q: Why was sugar once a luxury?
A: It was expensive, rare, and dangerous to produce.
⛓ Sugar, Slavery & Environment
Q: Where does sugar cane grow?
A: Tropical regions.
Q: Why did sugar production rely on slavery?
A: It required intense labor under brutal conditions.
Q: How did sugar link continents?
A: Through transatlantic trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
🌍 Extraction & Environmental Degradation
Q: What are extractive episodes?
A: Periods of intense resource removal.
Q: What environmental harms result from extraction?
A: Deforestation, emissions, pollution.
Q: What are “enviro‑bads”?
A: Environmental harms exported to poorer regions.
🔁 Chase‑Dunn & Hall Iteration Model
Q: What does the iteration model explain?
A: How population growth leads to environmental degradation and conflict.
Q: What is circumscription?
A: Limits on land or resources that increase conflict.
Q: How does hierarchy form in this model?
A: Through competition over scarce resources.
👥 Population & Environment
Q: How does population growth affect the environment?
A: It increases pressure on resources.
Q: What happens when resources are limited?
A: Migration, conflict, and hierarchy.
🏛 Ancient Views of Nature
Q: How did ancient Greece view nature?
A: As orderly and morally significant.
Q: What did Plato believe about nature?
A: It was divine and should not be corrupted by desire.
☯ Ancient China & Daoism
Q: How did Daoists view nature?
A: As operating independently of humans.
Q: What is the Dao?
A: The natural way or principle of the universe.
🏙 Rome & Urbanization
Q: Why was Rome important environmentally?
A: It was the first massive city.
Q: How did Rome manage nature?
A: Through engineering like aqueducts and sewers.
Q: What contradiction did Rome embody?
A: Valuing nature while exploiting it.
🍎 Johnny Appleseed & Ideology
Q: Why is Johnny Appleseed sociologically important?
A: He helped settlers claim land.
Q: Why apples?
A: They could be turned into alcohol and stored.
🧠 Moral Foundations of Environmental Concern
Q: What shapes environmental morality?
A: Science, religion, race, gender, and power.
Q: Why is morality tied to power?
A: Those with power define what is “right.”
🌀 Postmodernism & Nature
Q: What is postmodernism?
A: The idea that multiple perspectives exist and none dominate.
Q: How does postmodernism affect environmental thought?
A: It values diverse voices and experiences.
🌲 Thoreau & Simplicity
Q: What did Thoreau argue?
A: Moral societies require simple living.
Q: What is the “natural me”?
A: A self free from material desire.
🧠 Exam‑Level Insight
Q: How does capitalism shape environmental inequality?
A: Through extraction, exploitation, and uneven power.
Q: Why is world‑systems theory crucial for environmental sociology?
A: It links global inequality to ecological harm.
🧠 Big‑Picture Environmental Sociology
Q: What is the core insight of environmental sociology?
A: Environmental problems are social problems shaped by power, inequality, and ideology.
Q: Why is “nature” never neutral?
A: Because how we define nature reflects social values and power relations.
🔄 Environmental Concern Review
Q: Why does environmental concern rise and fall?
A: Due to the issue‑attention cycle and compassion fatigue.
Q: What triggers spikes in environmental concern?
A: Crises like oil spills, wildfires, or disasters.
Q: Why doesn’t concern always lead to action?
A: Structural limits, political resistance, and economic power.
🧩 Comparing the Three Theories (HIGH‑YIELD)
Q: What does postmaterialism emphasize?
A: Values shift after basic needs are met.
Q: What does paradigm shift emphasize?
A: Changing beliefs about humans’ relationship to nature.
Q: What does ecological modernization emphasize?
A: Technological and institutional solutions.
Q: Which theory struggles most with inequality?
A: Postmaterialism.
Q: Which theory is criticized as overly optimistic?
A: Ecological modernization.
✝ Religion, Capitalism & Domination
Q: How did Protestantism shape capitalism?
A: Through work ethic, asceticism, and moral anxiety.
Q: Why is Weber important for environmental sociology?
A: He shows how beliefs shape economic and environmental behavior.
Q: How does Christianity justify environmental domination?
A: Through anthropocentrism and biblical mandate.
🌍 Western vs Non‑Western Worldviews
Q: What defines Western environmental ideology?
A: Control, domination, and technological mastery.
Q: What defines Daoist environmental philosophy?
A: Harmony, balance, and non‑action.
Q: Why are non‑Western philosophies important?
A: They challenge domination‑based thinking.
🧍♂ Individualism & Ecology
Q: Why is individualism problematic for environmental solutions?
A: It ignores collective responsibility and systemic causes.
Q: How does individualism support capitalism?
A: By prioritizing self‑interest and competition.
🎭 Body & Environment (Bakhtin)
Q: What does the carnivalesque body represent?
A: Openness, connection, and ecological exchange.
Q: What does the classical body represent?
A: Control, separation, and hierarchy.
Q: Why does the classical body support environmental domination?
A: It treats nature as shameful and external.
♀ Gender, Power & Environment
Q: How does patriarchy shape environmental harm?
A: It values domination, risk‑taking, and exploitation.
Q: Why are women more exposed to environmental harms?
A: Economic inequality and caregiving roles.
Q: Why are women more active in environmental movements?
A: Social roles emphasize care and health.
🌍 World‑Systems & Inequality
Q: What is the core‑periphery relationship?
A: Core nations extract resources from peripheral regions.
Q: What do peripheral regions export?
A: Raw materials and environmental harm.
Q: Why is this environmentally unjust?
A: Those least responsible suffer the most damage.
🍬 Sugar, Slavery & Capitalism
Q: Why is sugar sociologically important?
A: It links consumption, slavery, and environmental degradation.
Q: How did sugar shape global capitalism?
A: Through plantation labor and transatlantic trade.
🧬 Nature, Science & Inequality
Q: What is scientific racism?
A: Using science to justify inequality.
Q: Why is “naturalizing” dangerous?
A: It makes injustice seem inevitable.
🔬 Realism vs Constructionism (EXAM FAVORITE)
Q: What do realists argue?
A: Nature exists independently of humans.
Q: What do constructionists argue?
A: Knowledge about nature is socially shaped.
Q: Why is critical realism important?
A: It bridges both perspectives.
🧳 Tourism & Nature
Q: How does tourism commodify nature?
A: By turning landscapes into products.
Q: What are “ghosts of place”?
A: Romanticized histories used for profit.
🧠 Essay‑Ready Takeaways
Q: How do ideology and power shape environmental outcomes?
A: They define what is “natural,” acceptable, and profitable.
Q: Why does sociology matter for environmental issues?
A: It reveals hidden power structures and inequalities.
🎯 FINAL EXAM STRATEGY CARD
Q: How do you ace environmental sociology essays?
A:
Define the concept
Explain why it matters
Give a concrete example
Connect to power or inequality