What is the ‘Social’ in Climate Change Research? A Case Study on Scientific Representations from Chile

Abstract

Over the last few decades climate change has been gaining importance in international scientific and political debates. However, the social sciences, especially in Latin America, have only lately become interested in the subject and their approach is still vague. Scientific understanding of global environmental change and the process of designing public policies to face them are characterized by their complexity as well as by epistemic and normative uncertainties. This makes it necessary to problematize the way in which research efforts understand 'the social' of climate change. How do 'the climate' and 'the social' interpenetrate as scientific objects? What does the resulting field look like? Is the combination capable of promoting reflexivity and collaboration on the issue, or does it merely become dispersed with diffuse boundaries? Our paper seeks to answer these and other related questions using Chile as a case study and examining peer-reviewed scientific research on the topic.

Knowledge Priorities on Climate Change and Water in the Upper Indus Basin: A Horizon Scanning Exercise to Identify the Top 100 Research Questions in Social and Natural Sciences

“…This methodology does not allow for or include further analysis on systematic grouping of the questions in sequence or to place any value judgment on the importance or relevance of categories, themes, or questions. Moreover, we want to distance ourselves from the fallacy that natural/environmental sciences are more important than social sciences, and that understanding the former is required before the latter can be understood (Billi et al., 2019; Heberlein, 1988).…”

“…This study makes a beginning toward identifying what knowledge gaps need to be filled to enable this, which it achieves by bringing together experts in these key disciplines to identify the Top 100 questions related to climate change and water in the UIB. Our list of questions focuses deliberately on those on the margins of current thinking and investigation and takes particular cognizance of the fact that these research efforts must include joint involvement of the social and natural sciences and explore the relationship between these areas (Billi et al., 2019; Eriksson et al., 2009; Heberlein, 1988). The Top 100 questions are identified using a horizon‐scanning approach, which is a foresight technique used to detect emerging threats, opportunities, and risks, and to systematically identify pressing knowledge gaps.…”

The wicked problem of climate change and interdisciplinary research: Tracking management scholarship's contribution

“…Yet bringing together the natural and social science communities remains a formidable challenge in the face of ingrained epistemic, methodological, and structural boundaries that tend to divide the disciplines (Härtel & Pearman, 2010;Mooney, Duraiappah, & Larigauderie, 2013;Victor, 2015). Some suggest that 'the social' of climate change has been downplayed and mostly treated in a reductionist fashion (Billi, Blanco, & Urquiza, 2019;Victor, 2015).…”

An Integrated Framework to Streamline Resilience in the Context of Urban Climate Risk Assessment

“…A particularly daunting task is to make the concept accessible and attractive to social science scholars. Social scientists' contribution to the understanding and management of climate risks is increasingly recognized (Billi, Blanco & Urquiza, 2019). However, social science scholars have traditionally been less prone to enter this field and have particularly shown suspicion concerning the notion of 'resilience', precisely for its inability to dialogue with standing ideas within the disciplinary field.…”