Sociologies of Personal Relationships and the Challenge of Climate Change

Abstract

The substantive concerns and theoretical insights of sociologies of family, intimate and personal life ought to place this body of work in closer dialogue with environmental sociology over the ‘big issue’ of climate change. However, its research active practitioners typically have a narrower repertoire of engagement with global issues and those who are outside the topic area often miss the value of its contributions. This article discusses common ground between this specialist area and sociologies of environmental issues in unpacking processes of social change through empirically grounded theoretical work. This includes the renewed theoretical emphasis on relationality, empirically based critique of the ‘individualisation thesis’, uses of ‘practice’ to transcend ‘micro’–‘macro’ and ‘social’–‘natural’ divisions, and interest in I/we boundary shifts. More fully recognising the potential of this overlapping territory may help leverage more effective sociological responses to the global challenge of climate change.

Up in smoke or down with worms? older adult environmentalist’s discourse on disposal, dispersal, and (green) burial

“…Their discourse reflects a pursuit of symbolic immortality -deliberations that make sense in their lived self and identities as they move closer to their own death. But it does point out to us as scholars that we have many avenues open to us for study that go beyond just the large-scale global problems, and that our own communities and even families (Jamieson, 2019), are filled with stories of people wrestling with environmental issues on an everyday basis, waiting to be researched and told.…”

“…Thus, some movements exhibit a type of negotiation between public and private responsibility (Middlemiss, 2014) or quiet activism, where the actions involved tend more towards gardening, childcare, or bureaucratic maintenance rather than typical movement tactics (Pottinger, 2017). This kind of intimate-level or relational aspect of environmentalism is understudied (Jamieson, 2019). Some may even decide to opt out of front-line activism completely.…”

Morals and climate decision-making: insights from social and behavioural sciences

“…A relational approach to morals suggests that 'moral views [are] simultaneously status markers and attempts to achieve self-worth' (De Keere, 2020). Work in environmental sociology highlights how friendships and families transmit ecological values in ways that bolster or morally excuse individuals from pursuing sustainable practices (Jamieson, 2020).…”

“…In their discussion of REDD+ in Nigeria, for example, Asiyanbi et al, (2019) describe how it aimed to normalise particular moral values about forest protection but were countered by local discourses of morality centred around entitlements to forests. Others have shown how framings of climate solutions, for instance individualising moral narratives that situate climate change as the responsibility of individuals and consumer behaviour, deliberately shift the burden of response from states to citizens and thus justify minimal government action (Blythe et al, 2018;Jamieson, 2020).…”

Young Europeans in Brexit Britain: Unsettling identities

“…In these new circumstances, migrants modulate their behaviors and develop a sense of who they “can be” and how they can be “both here and there.” This experience is lived through and performed by the body, which is itself culturally and historically influenced (Brown et al ., 2011). Jamison (2020: 221) insists that embodied, emotionally charged, symbolically communicative family relationships and friendships are relevant to wider social change. The relational processes that constitute parenting, family, friendship, and caring relationships are shaping selves, producing a liveable social world.…”