Conservatism, the Far-Right, and the Environment

Abstract

Sociology operates with an impoverished understanding of conservatism and the natural environment. The discipline’s focus on anti-regulatory and anti-science dimensions of conservative politics can obscure a more comprehensive, historically deep, and theoretically rich understanding of conservatism’s connection to nature. We review and integrate sociological research with a large multi-disciplinary global literature on conservative and far right environmental thought. Our analysis shows an intellectual tradition built around three commitments concerning the moral order of nature and society: (a) Naturalism, (b) Organicism, (c) Pastoralism. Rather than anti-scientific, these traditions have drawn heavily on natural science for their authority. After tracing their history, we consider several contemporary manifestations, sometimes in ways that are counterintuitive to sociology’s dominant understanding of conservatism. Conservative thought, including its far right edges, maintains a firm hold on global politics while climate change transforms the planet. To better understand these dynamics, sociology must continue to integrate work from other socio-environmental fields. This review begins to correct this neglect and charts a path for future research at this increasingly impactful intersection.

The social life of climate projects

“…An especially rich set of studies are beginning to detail how conservatives think of climate projects. Dispelling a crude characterization of climate conservatism as climate denial, sociologists find that their disposition to climate projects can be guided by a rich moral order rooted in dispositions toward nature (Bryant & Farrell, 2023). (Angelo, 2021;Rea & Frickel, 2023;Scoville, 2019).…”