Climate, Class and Culture: Political Issues as Cultural Signifiers in the US

Abstract

Since the 1970s, social scientists have argued that general pro-environmental attitudes have diffused throughout American society, rendering socio-demographics largely irrelevant in predicting support for such issues. The public reaction to the issue of climate change, however, is an exception to this narrative. While media bias, ideological framing, and business influence are often invoked to explain public apathy, I argue that ignoring class and culture in determining why climate change is so divisive is a potentially significant oversight. Using the cultural theory of Bourdieu, I examine how the conception of and reaction to climate change varies with economic and cultural capital using data from 40 interviews of Boston-area respondents. The results suggest that climate change may indeed be a 'classed' issue-both in how the respondents conceive of it in the first place, and how they speak of social class in the context of it. The results suggest that social scientists should go beyond rational-choice and media framing explanations, to take two prolific examples, in exploring how disagreements on the importance of climate change persist in the US.

An emerging eco-habitus: The reconfiguration of high cultural capital practices among ethical consumers

“…The climate change case (Laidley, 2013) reports findings from eight HCC participants from a sample of 40 interviews with individuals who responded to a call to discuss climate change. Unlike the other cases, we report on both cultural and economic capital for this case.…”

Dynamics of positive deviance in destigmatisation: celebrities and the media in the rise of veganism

“…It also highlights the distinction this new type of veganism confers. Firstly, one had to have enough economic capital to afford these suggestions and, secondly, enough cultural capital to appreciate and to blend into such establishments (see also Elliott 2013;Laidley 2013;Carfagna et al 2014). In addition, the body is an important factor in gaining distinction as it is a symbol of differences in taste and class (Bourdieu 1984) as well as a symbol of self-surveillance as regards to excess weight, in particular (Price 2000;Guthman 2003).…”

Social Network Challenges to Reducing Consumption: The Problem of Gift Giving

“…Reducing or changing consumption patterns confronts several social barriers: values (Gifford ), social and institutional norms (frequency of taking a shower, temperature of air‐conditioning) (Shove ), cultural logics (enough, good taste, convenience) (Isenhour ), cultural narratives (on recycling) (Markle ), regional customs (airing out rooms in winter) (Erickson ), identity‐building (Belk ), social group affiliation (Shove and Warde ), time (Schoolman ), cultural capital (Laidley ), normality (Shirani et al ), status (Elliott ), climate change skepticism (Semenza et al ), life stage (Balta‐Ozkan et al ), and many others. These examples hint at the wide range of social and cultural barriers that are under consideration.…”