Deck 1: Introduction: Individuals, Societies, and Pragmatic Environmentalism

Question 1

The concept of "sociological momentum" refers to:

A) The ease with which society can change through the adoption of new technologies.
B) When a technology become embedded within society it becomes increasingly difficult to change paths.
C) A social movement in the 1970s directed around the production of green energy.
D) How individual attitudes toward the environment often change with the invention of new technologies.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

A way of thinking that involves making connections over time and across scales between the particular and the general is:

A) Technological momentum.
B) Sociological imagination.
C) Ecological complexity.
D) Sociological complexity.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Social constructivism refers to:

A) An approach interested entirely in how people act in a given situation.
B) An approach widely used in the ecological sciences.
C) An approach that focuses on social and cultural knowledge of a phenomenon rather than on any inherent qualities that the thing possesses.
D) An approach that looks at how complex social systems interact with complex technical systems.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

According to Society and the Environment, environmental sociologists are:

A) Interested equally in material (or ecological) and social variables.
B) Continuing to ignore ecological variables.
C) Exclusively interested in how people socially construct their environment.
D) Exclusively interested in the material (or ecological) world and tend to neglect the role that society plays in shaping ecological variables.

Question 5

Michael Carolan, in the text Society and the Environment, applies what type of perspective to environmental sociology?

A) Social constructionist.
B) Political economy.
C) Pragmatic approach.
D) None of the above.

Question 6

Another term for a theoretical approach, according to Carolan, is:

A) Pragmatism.
B) Environmental Sociology.
C) Social constructivism.
D) Grand narratives.

Question 7

What is the problem of focusing too much on the "individual" according to Carolan?

A) It can create dangerous blind spots that risk making circumstances worse for some people.
B) Not every individual can afford to make sacrifices.
C) Does not address rising rates of inequality.
D) All of the above.

Question 8

What is the "operational space" of Environmental Sociology?

A) Small scale every day interactions.
B) The lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere.
C) The operational space between the social and material world.
D) Small scale every day interactions

Question 9

When does society have the greatest control over a technology?

A) When it is first introduced.
B) When consumer demand for it is high and its market can be regulated.
C) Before large corporations have control over it.
D) Society has no control over technology.

Question 10

What example does Carolan provide to illustrate "The Messy Relationship between Behaviors and Attitudes?"

A) Cycling as a means of transportation is becoming increasingly popular among young people.
B) Recycling is as easy as throwing things away in Fort Collins Colorado, leading to behavioral changes over attitude change.
C) Attitudes must always change before behaviors can.
D) All of the above.

Question 11

Michael Carolan offers a pragmatic approach to the study of environmental sociology.

Question 12

Social constructivism takes into account the social and cultural meanings behind social actions and behaviors.

Question 13

Environmental sociologists are solely interested in the social and cultural realm of institutions and everyday life.

Question 14

Environmental sociologists should focus solely on individual behaviors.

Question 15

The concepts of "sociological momentum" and "technological momentum" are closely related.

Question 16

Michael Carolan offers a strictly theoretical approach to the study of environmental sociology.

Question 17

Ecological complexity and sociological complexity are intertwined within the field of environmental sociology.

Question 18

Today, people are less concerned about the environment than 50 years ago.

Question 19

The automobile and its embeddedness in American culture is an example of sociological momentum.

Question 20

According to Carolan, the relationship between attitudes and behaviors is clear and direct - attitudes must change before behaviors can.

Question 21

The concept of "ecological complexity" refers to:

Question 22

Define "sociological complexity."

Question 23

Define "environmental sociology."

Question 24

Define "sociological imagination."

Question 25

Define "social constructivism."

Question 26

Define "sociological momentum."

Question 27

Define what we mean by "Technologically possible versus the sociologically probable."

Question 28

Define "grand narratives versus pragmatism."

Question 29

How can sociology inform our understanding of environmental problems?

Question 30

What actions of your own clearly cost the environment? Why do you still continue to do them? What would it take for those behaviors to change?

Question 31

Are your own experiences similar to Carolan? Do you hear more emphasis from books, TV, social media, professors on environmental problems rather than solutions? Discuss and explain. Why do you think this is so? Discuss and explain.