Overview

The Specialization in Environment, Sociology and Governance aims to provide the students with a comprehensive conceptual, theoretical and empirical background to the interaction between social and natural world, by way of highlighting issues related to environment, sustainable development and resource governance. Human societies throughout history have shared an intrinsic relation with nature. Environmental factors always shape social phenomena, and human societies inevitably alter natural environment. In this broader context, this course aims to explore the relationship between human society and the larger natural environment, of which it is a part of. It is now acknowledged that environmental issues are inevitably social issues, and these can be understood by an examination of their social roots.

The course, therefore, attempts to understand the social roots of ecological problems, and to unveil the social responses to the environmental problems. Besides, it examines the emergence of the concept of sustainable development, environmental conflicts and movements, and various approaches to resource use and varied responses to environmental risks. While attempting to understand the relationship between social world and natural world, it explores important theoretical perspectives like Ecological Modernisation, Treadmill of Production, Risk Society Thesis and Eco-philosophies. The course gives due importance to environmental issues, concerns and debates that have emerged in India in recent years, and discusses the environmental history and the rise of environmentalism in India.