Environmental justice in the textbook of sociology

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the possible effect that schools can have on students, beyond the socioeconomic factors traditionally researched by the Sociology of Education. Within this context, curriculum production can be included as a cross-cutting theme to these studies, within the scope of school effectiveness, once it interferes in the political and social construction of civic engagement of its citizens. The discussion argues the principle of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) can be taught through the school discipline of Sociology, through the concept of environmental justice. In this sense, the purpose of this article is to associate the learning of environmental justice with the increasing of civic engagement. The analysis of a sociology textbook leads to the conclusion that the curriculum of environmental justice can positively impact the increase of global citizenship and social transformation, and above all, the consolidation of a democratic culture.

KEYWORDS:

• Global Citizenship Education
• environmental justice
• curriculum

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In Brazil, the school discipline of Sociology is only part of the regular curriculum in high school level and became mandatory as a school subject through Law No. 11. 684 of June 2nd, 2008. Before that period, the subject Sociology appeared in school curriculum since 1925 on an intermittent basis. To learn more about the intermittency of the Sociology subject in Brazilian elementary schools, see Oliveira (2011).

2. Part extracted specifically in relations to the discipline of Sociology in the area of Human Sciences and its Technologies.

3. The author gives the example of the Landless Workers Movement, the Plural School in the city of Belo Horizonte and the Elector of the Future program (McCowan, 2009).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joana da Costa Macedo

Joana da Costa Macedo, Bachelor (2006) and Master (2010) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). Graduated of PhD in Postgraduate Course of Social Science at the same University in 2015. In 2013, completed a doctoral internship at the Center for Anthropological Research at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Currently, is a teacher of Sociology at the Rio de Janeiro State Department of Education and a Lecturer at the Faculty of Education of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in the area of Sociology of Education.