| Course Name | Energy and Society |
| Code | Semester | Theory (hour/week) | Application/Lab (hour/week) | Local Credits | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEN 553 | Fall/Spring | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7.5 |
| Prerequisites | None | |||||
| Course Language | English | |||||
| Course Type | Elective | |||||
| Course Level | Second Cycle | |||||
| Mode of Delivery | - | |||||
| Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course | ||||||
| Course Coordinator | ||||||
| Course Lecturer(s) | - | |||||
| Assistant(s) | - | |||||
| Course Objectives | The purpose of this course is to enable students to analyze and understand the relationships among society, environment and energy. |
| Learning Outcomes | The students who succeeded in this course;
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| Course Description | Energy is a key social variable in accounting for outcomes such as interstate conflicts, civil wars and poverty. Recent global discussions on issues such as climate change, water scarcity and energy poverty have increased the scholarly interest in the dynamics and nature of social aspects of energy systems. This course will address questions like: In what ways does the availability of energy affect public opinion and societal activities? What are the social structural and social psychological bases of energy concerns? How are energy problems different in developing nations? Why is there no societal consensus on global warming? What are the social consequences of natural resource dependency? How do different social groups view energy crises? And what are the explanations of gender inequities in energy consumption? This course will take a sociological approach to answer these questions but it will also emphasize the need for an interdisciplinary perspective to gain an adequate understanding of technical, economic, social, regional, political and environmental dynamics of energy systems and options. |
| Related Sustainable Development Goals | |
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| Core Courses | |
| Major Area Courses | ||
| Supportive Courses | ||
| Media and Managment Skills Courses | ||
| Transferable Skill Courses |
| Week | Subjects | Required Materials |
| 1 | Introduction | No Assigned Readings |
| 2 | Explaining Public Opinion and Behavior | 1) Jon Elster, Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences, Cambridge University Press. Chapters 1/4, 2) Zaller, John. 1992. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 6 /28. |
| 3 | Can Public Opinion Make an Impact on Policymakers? | 1) Jacobs, Lawrence R., and Robert Y. Shapiro. 2000. Politicians Don’t Pander: Political Manipulation and the Loss of Democratic Responsiveness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chapter 8. 2) Schlozman, Kay Lehman. 2003. “Vox Populi: Public Opinion and the Democratic Dilemma.” Brookings Review 21 (3): 4/7. |
| 4 | How Can We Measure Public Opinion and Attitudes | Zaller, John. 1992. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 28/39. |
| 5 | Why do we need to study what people think of energy use? | 1) Eugene A. Rosa, Gary E. Machlis, Kenneth M. Keating (1988) “Energy and Society,” Annual Review of Sociology, 14: 149/172. 2) Yergin, D. (1991) The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power. New York: Simon & Schuster. Pages 1116. 3) Burstein, Paul (2003) “The Impact of Public Opinion on Public Policy: A Review and an Agenda” Political Research Quarterly, 56(1): 29/40. |
| 6 | Social Movements, Collective Action and their Impact on Energy Policies | 1) Joppke, Christian (1991) “Social Movements during Cycles of Issue Attention: The Decline of the AntiNuclear Energy Movements in West Germany and the USA,” The British Journal of Sociology, 42(1): 43/60. 2) Tarrow, Sidney G. 1994. Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action, and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. |
| 7 | Midterm Exam | |
| 8 | Tragedy of the Commons and its Impact on Energy Policies | 1) Hardin, Garrett (1968), The Tragedy of the Commons, Science, 162: 1243/1248. 2) Kollock, Peter (1998) “Social Dilemmas: The Anatomy of Cooperation,” Annual Review of Sociology, 24: 183/214. 3) Shepsle, Kenneth A. and Mark S. Bonchek. 1997. Analyzing Politics: Rationality, Behavior, and Institutions. New York: W.W. Norton: 197/219. |
| 9 | Campaigns, Elections, Voting and Energy Policies | Stimson, James. 2004. Tides of Consent: How Public Opinion Shapes American Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 4. |
| 10 | Energy and the Media | 1) Erfle Stephen, McMillan, Henry, Grofman, Bernard (1991) “Regulation Via Threats: Politics, Media Coverage, and Oil Pricing Decisions,” The Public Opinion Quarterly, 54(1): 48/63. 2) Sears, David O., and Richard Kosterman. 1994. “Political Persuasion.” In Sharon Shavitt & Timothy C. Brock (eds.), Persuasion: Psychological Insights and Perspectives. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. pp. 251/278. |
| 11 | Gender and Energy | 1) Adams, Carol J., ed. Ecofeminism and the Sacred. New York: Continuum, 1993. 2) Bose, S. (1993) “Women, Work, and Household Electrification in Rural India”, in Money, Energy and Welfare (Oxford University Press: Bombay, India), Chapter V, pages 143 – 181. 3) Warren, Karen J., ed. Ecological Feminism. New York: Routledge, 1994. |
| 12 | Society, Sustainable Development and Environmental Justice | 1) O’Rourke, D. and Connolly, S. (2003) “Just oil? The distribution of environmental and social impacts of oil production and consumption,” Annual Reviews of Environment and Resources, 28, 587/617. 2) Pastor, Manuel, (2007) “Environmental Justice: Reflections from the United States”, Ch. 14 in Reclaiming Nature. pp. 351–376. 3) Revkin, Andrew C. (2007) “Poorest Nations will Bear Brunt as World Warms,” New York Times, April 1. 4) Adams., W.M. 1991. Green Development: Environment and Sustainability in the Third World. Routledge Press. |
| 13 | Society, Economic Development and Energy | 1) Goldemberg, J. (1996) Energy, Environment, and Development (Earthscan: London, UK), 11 – 37. 2) Baker, Jonathan (1977) “Oil and African Development,” The Journal of Modern African Studies, 15(2): 175 212. |
| 14 | Public Opinion on Climate Change | 1) Kolbert, E. (2005). “The Climate of Man–I.” The New Yorker, April 25. 2) Kolbert, E. (2005). “The Climate of Man–II.” The New Yorker, May 2. 3) Kolbert, E. (2005). “The Climate of Man–III.” The New Yorker, May 9. 4) Baer, P., et al. (2000). “Equity and Greenhouse Gas Responsibility.” Science 289(5488): 22/87. 5) Jorgenson, Andrew K. (2006) “Global Warming and the Neglected Greenhouse Gas: A CrossNational Study of the Social Causes of Methane Emissions Intensity, 1995,” Social Forces, 84(3): 1779/1798. |
| 15 | Final Exam | |
| 16 | Review of the Semester |
| Course Notes/Textbooks | Parts from book that mentioned above and PowerPoint presentations |
| Suggested Readings/Materials | Mersereau & Jackson, “Circuit Analysis: A Systems Approach”, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, ISBN 0130932248. |
| Semester Activities | Number | Weigthing |
| Participation | 12 | 10 |
| Laboratory / Application | ||
| Field Work | ||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | ||
| Portfolio | ||
| Homework / Assignments | 5 | 30 |
| Presentation / Jury | ||
| Project | ||
| Seminar / Workshop | ||
| Oral Exam | ||
| Midterm | 1 | 25 |
| Final Exam | 1 | 35 |
| Total |
| Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 65 | |
| Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 35 | |
| Total |
| Semester Activities | Number | Duration (Hours) | Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | 3 | 48 |
| Laboratory / Application Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | ||
| Study Hours Out of Class | 15 | 3 | 45 |
| Field Work | |||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | |||
| Portfolio | |||
| Homework / Assignments | 5 | 5 | |
| Presentation / Jury | |||
| Project | |||
| Seminar / Workshop | |||
| Oral Exam | |||
| Midterms | 1 | 30 | |
| Final Exams | 1 | 32 | |
| Total | 180 |
| # | Program Competencies/Outcomes | * Contribution Level | ||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | To improve theoretical and conceptual proficiencies as well as applied competencies on energy studies. | |||||
| 2 | To evaluate the problems and circumstances about energy systems by using theoretical and practical knowledge in fundamental disciplines of energy studies such as economics, natural sciences, political science, law, and sociology. | |||||
| 3 | To analyze multi-dimensional problems which are faced and unpredicted in energy system by taking over responsibility as an individual and a group member. | |||||
| 4 | To evaluate the relationships between factors in energy policies and applications such as structures, markets, institutions, regulations, climate change and environment in a critical perspective. | |||||
| 5 | To debate problems in sustainable energy development by identifying them. | |||||
| 6 | To argue positive and negative aspects of international affairs and geopolitics on energy. | |||||
| 7 | To examine the economic and political structure that energy systems are based on. | |||||
| 8 | To question the theoretical and empirical gaps in energy studies literature by developing original arguments in order to fill these gaps in the literature. | |||||
| 9 | To interpret the collected data that would measure the theories, scenarios and concepts as variables by using scientific research methods in energy sciences and sustainable energy development field. | |||||
| 10 | To prepare an original thesis/term project about political, economic, environmental, social and/or historical dimensions of sustainable energy and geopolitics in accordance with scientific criteria. | |||||
| 11 | To develop foreign language skills to be able to follow the literature on energy studies and to communicate with international scholars. | |||||
| 12 | To be able to use data and information in advanced levels in the field of energy sciences. | |||||
| 13 | To have ethical, social and scientific values in the stages throughout the processes of collecting, interpreting, disseminating and implementing data relevant to energy studies. | |||||
*1 Lowest, 2 Low, 3 Average, 4 High, 5 Highest
