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SOC 372: Animals, People and Nature

Sociology · 5 credits

This course applies classical and contemporary sociological thought to the relationship between humans, animals and the natural environment. We begin by exploring the spaces that non-human animals occupy in human social and cultural worlds, the interactions humans have with them and how this relates to environmental issues. The presence of animals is difficult to ignore given the varied physical (food, fiber, entertainment, technology, laboratory, companion, etc.) and representational (symbol, story, religious, etc.) places animals inhabit in human lives. This course brings into focus the historic and contemporary role animals have played and highlights the importance of recognizing and investigating these relationships as drivers of human attitudes and behaviors. We will explore a variety of cases where animals have fundamentally altered how humans behave. For example, we will study the ways that people’s attachments to their companion animals influenced their decisions to evacuate during Hurricane Katrina, leading to widespread changes in national evacuation policies. This class will draw on diverse voices (those from women, indigenous folk, LGBTQIA+ people, disabled, immigrants, etc.) to demonstrate how various communities have been writing and thinking about the connection between animals, people and the natural environment. Course materials will include academic and activist texts, film, photography, art, and national and international guest speakers.

Offered in 8 of the 26 listed terms (Winter 2021 to Fall 2026).

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Prerequisites

SOC 221 or SOC 234 or SOC 251 or SOC 255 or SOC 260 or SOC 268 or SOC 269 or SOC 271 or SOC 1PR or HNRS 252

From Banner's catalog for Spring 2027. Banner lists only the requisites it enforces, so check the catalog entry too.

Required by (0)

No course lists it as a prerequisite.

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Instructors

Every offering in the listed terms (8 sections)