OxfordAQA International A-level Sociology (9690): Unit 4 – People and the environment – Revision Notes

These notes condense the People and the environment study guide; read that first for full explanations and worked paragraphs.

They cover section 3.2.2 People and the environment (3.2.2.1 The built human environment, 3.2.2.2 Human impacts on environment, 3.2.2.3 People and animals) of the OxfordAQA International AS and A-level Sociology (9690) specification, Version 1.1 (first teaching September 2026; first A-level exams May/June 2028). The section is assessed in Unit 4: People and the environment, a 1 hour 30 minute exam of 50 marks with “short and extended response questions”, worth 20% of the International A-level. First A-level exams are in May/June 2028.

When you finish, test yourself with the practice questions and tick topics off on the OxfordAQA A-level Sociology checklist. All units are listed on the OxfordAQA A-level Sociology hub. Related A-level units are People and development, which also covers sustainable development and climate migration, and People and technology, which covers transport’s effects on the environment.

Key terms

Term	Definition
Nomadic lifestyle	Moving with herds or seasons rather than living in a fixed settlement
Sedentarisation	The process of nomadic groups settling permanently, often under state pressure
Peasant	A small farmer producing mainly for the household’s own needs
Landless labourer	A rural worker who owns no land and sells labour for wages
Rural depopulation	Decline in rural population as people, mostly young, leave for towns
Urbanisation	Growth in the share of a population living in towns and cities
Informal housing	Homes built without legal title, planning permission or formal services
Suburbia	Lower-density residential areas on the edge of cities
Segregation	Spatial separation of social groups by class, ethnicity or religion
Gated community	A walled or fenced estate with controlled entry
Megacity	An urban area of over 10 million people
Non-place	Augé: a space of transit or consumption where people remain anonymous
Demographic transition	A model of change from high to low birth and death rates
Romanticism	A view of nature as pure, spiritual and restorative
Conservation	Managing nature to protect it for present and future use
The long now	Thinking about responsibility across very long timescales and future generations
Sustainability	Meeting present needs without harming future generations’ ability to meet theirs
Over-tourism	Visitor numbers so high they damage places and push out residents
E-waste	Discarded electronic goods, often containing toxic materials
Desertification	Dry land losing productivity and turning towards desert
Social construction	The process by which an issue is defined and claimed as a social problem
Denialism	Rejecting well-established evidence, such as human-caused climate change
Ecological modernisation	The view that capitalism can become green through technology and regulation
Metabolic rift	Foster, after Marx: capitalism breaks natural cycles such as soil nutrient return
Environmental justice	Fair sharing of environmental harms and benefits across social groups
Climate justice	Linking responsibility for emissions with who suffers and who pays
Zoonotic disease	A disease that passes from animals to humans
Columbian Exchange	Crosby: transfer of plants, animals and diseases between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after 1492
Rewilding	Restoring land to natural processes, sometimes with reintroduced species
De-extinction	Attempts to recreate extinct species using genetic technology

Theorists and studies at a glance

Who	What	Key idea or finding	One evaluation point
Augé	Non-places (French 1992, English 1995)	Airports, motorways and malls are anonymous spaces of transit	Staff who work there daily may form real relationships
Mike Davis	Planet of Slums (2006); City of Quartz (1990)	Slum growth linked to debt and structural adjustment; “fortress” cities	Underplays residents’ own organising and agency
Thompson and Notestein	Demographic transition theory	Four stages from high to low birth and death rates	Based on European history; ignores state policy
Stewart Brand	Long Now Foundation (1996); The Clock of the Long Now (1999)	Long-term responsibility to future generations	A symbolic idea more than a tested theory
Ulrich Brand and Wissen	The Imperial Mode of Living (2017; English 2021)	Northern consumption relies on cheap labour and nature elsewhere	Middle classes in the global South increasingly share this lifestyle
Hannigan	Environmental Sociology (1995)	Six factors turn a real problem into a public issue	Can be read as relativising strong scientific evidence
Oreskes and Conway	Merchants of Doubt (2010)	Organised campaigns manufactured doubt	Some scepticism comes from distrust, not campaigns
Norgaard	Living in Denial (2011)	People who accept the science avoid thinking about it	Based on one community, so limited generalisability
Mol and Spaargaren	Ecological modernisation	Growth and protection can go together	Rising consumption cancels efficiency gains
Foster	Metabolic rift	Capitalism breaks natural cycles	State socialist societies also polluted heavily
Schnaiberg	Treadmill of production (1980)	Firms must keep expanding output	Underplays consumer and state choices
Bullard	Houston study (1979); Dumping in Dixie (1990)	Waste sites placed in Black neighbourhoods	US-based; class and race effects are hard to separate
Bryant	“The zoological connection” (1979)	Sociology ignored animal-related human behaviour	A call for research more than a theory
Singer	Animal Liberation (1975)	Animal suffering counts morally	Allows some use if suffering is outweighed
Regan	The Case for Animal Rights (1983)	Animals have rights that cannot be traded	Hard to apply to pest control or disease
Crosby	The Columbian Exchange (1972)	Biological exchange reshaped both hemispheres	Focuses on biology; colonial power did the damage too

Must-know distinctions

• Ecological modernisation vs green Marxism. EMT says reform capitalism; green Marxism says capitalism’s growth drive is the cause.
• Animal welfare vs animal rights. Welfare reduces suffering within use; rights rejects use.
• Scepticism vs denialism. Scepticism questions evidence; denialism rejects strong evidence, often for interests or identity.
• Conservation vs romanticism. Conservation manages nature; romanticism values it as pure and spiritual. They often combine.
• Between vs within countries. Climate injustice exists both globally (rich and poor nations) and locally (rich and poor districts).
• Urbanisation vs urban growth. Urbanisation is a rising urban share; a city can grow while the urban share stays flat.
• Strong vs soft constructionism. Hannigan takes the soft view: problems are real but must be claimed.

Mini essay plan

Question type: “Evaluate the view that environmental problems can be solved within capitalism.” Use examples from your own society or one you know.

1. Introduction: define ecological modernisation and green Marxism; state the debate.
2. For (EMT): Mol and Spaargaren; cheaper renewables; regulation of air pollution in your society; firms profit from green products.
3. Evaluate: rising total consumption; dirty production moved abroad; Ulrich Brand and Wissen’s imperial mode of living.
4. Against (green Marxism): Foster’s metabolic rift; Schnaiberg’s treadmill; deforestation for export crops.
5. Evaluate: state socialist pollution suggests industrialism is the issue; capitalist states have still cut some pollutants.
6. Justice angle: Bullard; poor communities bear costs whichever system operates.
7. Conclusion: a judgement tied to your examples, for instance that capitalism can reduce some local harms but has not reduced global consumption.

Quick self-test

1. What number of people defines a megacity?
2. Give two examples of Augé’s non-places.
3. Name the four stages of demographic transition theory.
4. Name three of Hannigan’s six factors.
5. In which year was the IPCC set up, and by which two bodies?
6. What is the treadmill of production?
7. What did Bullard’s 1979 Houston research show?
8. Define a zoonotic disease and give one example.
9. Name one animal and one disease that went from Afro-Eurasia to the Americas in the Columbian Exchange.
10. What is the difference between animal welfare and animal rights?
11. Give one criticism of ecological modernisation theory.
12. What does the specification require about examples in selected extended answers?

Answers

1. Over 10 million.
2. Any two: airports, motorways, hotel chains, shopping malls.
3. High birth and death; falling death, high birth; falling birth; low birth and death.
4. Any three: scientific authority; popularisers; media attention; dramatic symbols and images; economic incentives; an institutional sponsor.
5. 1988, by the World Meteorological Organization and the UN Environment Programme.
6. Schnaiberg’s idea that firms must keep expanding output, using ever more resources.
7. Waste sites in Houston were placed mainly in Black neighbourhoods.
8. A disease passing from animals to humans, such as rabies or avian influenza.
9. Animals: horses, cattle or pigs. Disease: smallpox or measles.
10. Welfare accepts human use but reduces suffering; rights rejects use itself.
11. Efficiency gains are outweighed by rising consumption, or polluting production is moved to poorer countries.
12. Use examples from your own society or a society you know about.

Where marks are usually lost

• Writing “Brand” in an answer without saying which Brand and which idea you mean.
• Describing slums only as “poor housing” without the UN-Habitat elements, such as insecure tenure or lack of sanitation.
• Treating demographic transition theory as a fact about every country rather than a model with limits.
• Using Hannigan to argue climate change is “just a construction”; that misreads his soft constructionism.
• Evaluating ecological modernisation only with “it might not work”; name the mechanism, such as rising consumption.
• Giving climate injustice between countries but ignoring inequalities within your own society.
• Using pets and livestock as examples without linking them to a sociological view of human-animal relations.
• Dropping the specified examples from your own society in extended answers.
• Listing environmental problems without applying a theory to any of them.

Official syllabus

OxfordAQA International AS and A-level Sociology (9690) specification, Version 1.1 (first teaching September 2026; first A-level exams May/June 2028), section 3.2.2 People and the environment.