Sociology: Sociological Perspectives on Sustainability Transitions

<p>How do sustainability transitions shape everyday life? Explore the social forces behind change - from extreme events and innovations to collective action - and gain sociological tools to understand how people, technology and institutions shape sustainable futures.</p><p>Sustainability is more important than ever in today’s world, with many countries working to lessen their environmental impact. The shift from current systems and practices to more sustainable ones is known as “sustainability transitions”. This course helps you understand the social impact of these transitions.</p><p>You explore key topics such as extreme events, innovations and social movements, and examine what drives social change using both classical and contemporary sociological perspectives. The course offers a broad introduction to how societies respond to climate change and other sustainability challenges.</p><p>You examine how decisions made in the past affect the choices we make today, using concepts such as path dependency. You also work with socio‑technical systems, which recognise that technology and society are intertwined and affect each other, and institutionalisation, which explains how norms and routines become established over time. You also analyse forces that can trigger or speed up change, including political decisions and cultural shifts.</p><p>The course highlights the balance between stability and change in society and the interdisciplinary nature of sustainability issues, showing how sociology contributes to wider discussions. Overall, it helps you understand the complexity of sustainability transitions and provides tools to analyse both challenges and possibilities.<br/><br/></p>