SOCIOL M115
Environmental Sociology
Description: (Same as Environment M133 and Society and Genetics M133.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Relationship between society and environment. Analysis in detail of interrelations between social factors (such as class, race, gender, and religion) and environmental factors (such as pollution, waste disposal, sustainability, and global warming). P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2017 - I really loved this class. I was hoping for an A, but even so I feel like I got a lot out of this class. I took this class as an Environmental Systems and Society Minor requirement, so I was really interested in the material. Mostly Soc majors in the class. Lots of people don't go to lectures, but there are a few pop quizzes in class. Discussion is mandatory, and my TA was pretty strict/harsh which is why I think I ended up with a B+.
Winter 2017 - I really loved this class. I was hoping for an A, but even so I feel like I got a lot out of this class. I took this class as an Environmental Systems and Society Minor requirement, so I was really interested in the material. Mostly Soc majors in the class. Lots of people don't go to lectures, but there are a few pop quizzes in class. Discussion is mandatory, and my TA was pretty strict/harsh which is why I think I ended up with a B+.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - I took this class as a graduating senior, and it ended up being one of my favorite classes at UCLA, though it did not seem like that during the course. The workload is A LOT (if you are trying to actually do it all). Each week, there are hefty readings to which you then do a one-page single-spaced response to. Discussions and lectures are mandatory, but a "word of the day" is used in lectures and recordings are posted, so you can get around this if you have a friend in the class. Throughout the quarter, there are deadlines for the final research paper, which examines an entity's (organization or city in the LA region) relationship to the sustainability - social and environmental. There's also a 1-min presentation on your paper findings to the class. You have to buy a couple books for the readings. There is a written essay final (choose from a couple pre-revealed prompts). I was frequently complaining about the class to my friends, and the majority of my effort for the quarter went to the course (definitely would not recommend taking with other heavy classes). Yet I realized at the end, this was one of the most interesting and engaging courses I have ever taken. If you do not like mundane classwork and not-applicable-to-real-life content, I would recommend this course. It actually challenged me to think about "real life" concepts relating to the environment, social issues, and politics, and I learned a lot and enhanced my critical analysis skills. The first book was one of my favorite reads ever, because it discussed the things that I stay up at night thinking about - that type of interesting and challenging. As far as Dr.Sexton, he is definitely a cool person. His lecturing, however, is a challenge. The way he speaks can be really difficult to 1) hear and 2) comprehend; a lot of "big", uncommon words are used, and he often speaks in broken sentences and phrases, that mumble off. I found myself getting lost in lecture a lot. While I kept up and comprehended the readings, I felt that I got nothing from the lectures, until I actually went back over the recordings before the final. Going over the lecture recordings, I suddenly understood and had even a deep comprehension of everything said, was able to connect all the class concepts, and was able to do really well on the final. I actually feel like I'm walking away with something from the course - which I only felt from one other class at UCLA. All this being said, I think it's a great class and would encourage everyone to take it to engage in important social and environmental topics and "learn beyond the classroom", but be warned, it is A LOT of work.
Winter 2023 - I took this class as a graduating senior, and it ended up being one of my favorite classes at UCLA, though it did not seem like that during the course. The workload is A LOT (if you are trying to actually do it all). Each week, there are hefty readings to which you then do a one-page single-spaced response to. Discussions and lectures are mandatory, but a "word of the day" is used in lectures and recordings are posted, so you can get around this if you have a friend in the class. Throughout the quarter, there are deadlines for the final research paper, which examines an entity's (organization or city in the LA region) relationship to the sustainability - social and environmental. There's also a 1-min presentation on your paper findings to the class. You have to buy a couple books for the readings. There is a written essay final (choose from a couple pre-revealed prompts). I was frequently complaining about the class to my friends, and the majority of my effort for the quarter went to the course (definitely would not recommend taking with other heavy classes). Yet I realized at the end, this was one of the most interesting and engaging courses I have ever taken. If you do not like mundane classwork and not-applicable-to-real-life content, I would recommend this course. It actually challenged me to think about "real life" concepts relating to the environment, social issues, and politics, and I learned a lot and enhanced my critical analysis skills. The first book was one of my favorite reads ever, because it discussed the things that I stay up at night thinking about - that type of interesting and challenging. As far as Dr.Sexton, he is definitely a cool person. His lecturing, however, is a challenge. The way he speaks can be really difficult to 1) hear and 2) comprehend; a lot of "big", uncommon words are used, and he often speaks in broken sentences and phrases, that mumble off. I found myself getting lost in lecture a lot. While I kept up and comprehended the readings, I felt that I got nothing from the lectures, until I actually went back over the recordings before the final. Going over the lecture recordings, I suddenly understood and had even a deep comprehension of everything said, was able to connect all the class concepts, and was able to do really well on the final. I actually feel like I'm walking away with something from the course - which I only felt from one other class at UCLA. All this being said, I think it's a great class and would encourage everyone to take it to engage in important social and environmental topics and "learn beyond the classroom", but be warned, it is A LOT of work.
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