737301 Socio-ecological transformations


Type
Lecture
Semester hours
2
Lecturer (assistant)
Pichler, Melanie
Organisation
Offered in
Sommersemester 2025
Languages of instruction
Deutsch

Content

The lecture introduces concepts and methods to analyse the dynamics of social nature relationships and elaborates on possibilities of actively shaping the interactions between societies and their natural environment. Such questions are currently discussed today under the topic of a (social-ecological) transformation. In the lecture different approaches from the social sciences, but also interdisciplinary approaches are presented and compared in their understanding of transformation. In the foreground are both the unplanned and partially Crisis-related transformations in natural conditions (such as climate change in particular), as well as current design options as discussed under headings like transformation towards sustainability or in social movements like Climate Justice Now, De-Growth or Fridays-For-Future. Using concrete examples, both the societal dependencies on nature as well as the societal transformation of bio-physical processes and their crisis-related effects are explained.

Previous knowledge expected

Basic skills in social sciences, in particular theory of society; interests in discussing the relations between societies and their natural environment and how they can be shaped.

Objective (expected results of study and acquired competences)

Students will acquire a better understanding for the complex relations between societies and their natural environments. Several approaches how to analyse these relations will be introduced and discussed and a transformation towards a sustainable society will be scrutinized.
You can find more details like the schedule or information about exams on the course-page in BOKUonline.