Climate change in sociology: Still silent or resonating?

Abstract

Since Lever-Tracy’s call for stronger sociological engagement with climate change in 2008, the number of climate-related contributions to leading sociological journals has increased. Yet, they still represent a small percentage of contributions overall. Reviewing the 37 articles published in eight top-ranked sociology journals until 2018, the authors of the present article identify five main subfields of research: (a) reflections on the role of the social sciences, (b) politics, (c) economy and consumption, (d) media and public perceptions, and (e) global flows. They conclude that the rise in contributions since 2008 indicates that climate change creates some resonance in the disciplinary core of mainstream sociology but that most sociological climate change research is undertaken and published in inter- and transdisciplinary spaces beyond the boundaries of the discipline. Emphasizing that climate change research can provide important epistemic resources for the discipline, the authors argue that sociology would benefit from being more responsive to it.

Energy research and social sciences: thinking outside the box

“…In addition, one should not forget about the interdisciplinary research that overlaps academic disciplines, sectors and policies and is increasingly expected to develop new insights and help to address various situations. In recent years, it was expected that the academic discipline of the social sciences and humanities would contribute to this new knowledge and touch upon the research in energy economics and policy, energy and religion, energy and philosophy, energy and arts and literature, just to name a few [17].…”

Children as a new climate precariat: A conceptual proposition

“…As sustainability and environmental issues have climbed the global, regional, national and local agendas, social vulnerability has many times been a subject of debate (Hagedorn et al, 2019). Still, social science – and sociology – has been criticized for not engaging enough in research on the social consequences of climate change (Koehrsen et al, 2020; Yearley, 2009). The scientific debate has recognized differences in climate change vulnerability related to ‘race, class, ethnicity and gender’ (Thomas et al, 2019), and the importance of access to resources, governance, culture and knowledge (Thomas et al, 2019).…”

Climate change sociology: Past contributions and future research needs

“…Contributions by social scientists have grown impressively in both volume and influence recently. Sociology has played a particularly prominent role in the field, and several excellent recent reviews far more comprehensive than what I will offer here are available [1][2][3][4][5][6]. In what follows, I highlight notable findings offered by sociologists who focus on climate change, followed by key priorities in future research.Notable sociological contributions, representing findings with strong agreement across several studies, fall into in three main areas, including social drivers; social impacts; and the power and politics associated with responses to climate change.The research record articulating multiple social factors and their relative weight as drivers of climate change represent what is perhaps the strongest and most extensive set of sociological contributions to climate science and policy.…”

“…Contributions by social scientists have grown impressively in both volume and influence recently. Sociology has played a particularly prominent role in the field, and several excellent recent reviews far more comprehensive than what I will offer here are available [1][2][3][4][5][6]. In what follows, I highlight notable findings offered by sociologists who focus on climate change, followed by key priorities in future research.…”

“…Most notably, the disciplinary core has yet to fully embrace climate change as a worthy subject [3,5]. Sociologists committed to the study of climate change face difficulties receiving career rewards from their home disciple, and resort to publication outside of major sociology journals [4]. Alas, the Human Exemptionalism Paradigm still prevails.…”