Table Of ContentWorkshop on
Sociological Perspectives on
Global Climate Change
May 30-31, 2008
JJooaannee NNaaggeell
Thomas Dietz
Jeffrey Broadbent
National Science Foundation 2009
Photograph Credits:
Cover photo courtesy of iStockphoto.com
p. 5, Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, University of Kansas
All other photos courtesy of iStockphoto.com and creative commons of Flickr.com
Sociology Program
Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
National Science Foundation
2009
This report is a summary of the proceedings of the “Sociological Perspectives on Global Climate Change”
workshop held at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia, May 30-31, 2008. Any opinions,
conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the United States Government.
Workshop on
Sociological Perspectives on Global
Climate Change
May 30 - 31, 2008
Report prepared by:
Joane Nagel
University of Kansas
Thomas Dietz
Michigan State University
Jeffrey Broadbent
University of Minnesota
Sociology Program
Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
National Science Foundation
2009
2
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank Dr. Patricia White, NSF Sociology Program Director for her help in planning this workshop
and preparing this report; Dr. Tom Baerwald, NSF Geography and Regional Sciences Program Director, for
presenting a broad overview of climate change research programs in the Foundation; Karen Duke, NSF Social and
Political Sciences Cluster Program Specialist for her administrative and technical support; Monique Laney and
Lindsey Feitz, University of Kansas graduate assistants to Joane Nagel, for their help in organizing the workshop,
designing and maintaining the workshop website, and writing the workshop report; Natalie Parker, Assistant
Director, University of Kansas Center for Research on Global Change, Institute for Policy & Social Research, for
her help in preparing the final report; the 28 workshop participants who submitted the informed and imaginative
papers contained in Appendix 3; and all workshop participants who contributed constructive and creative
comments and useful recommendations during and after the workshop, especially those who responded to a draft
of the workshop report.
Workshop Participants
Tom Baerwald, National Science Foundation Marta Maldonado, Iowa State University
Nancy Beller-Simms, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Sabrina McCormick, Michigan State University
Administration
Aaron McCright, Michigan State University
Michele Betsill, Colorado State University
Linda Mearns, National Center for Atmospheric
Steven Brechin, Syracuse University
Research
Jeffrey Broadbent, University of Minnesota
Joane Nagel, University of Kansas
Robert Bullard, Clark Atlanta University
Kari Norgaard, Whitman College
Penelope Canan, University of Central Florida
Simone Pulver, Brown University
JoAnn Carmin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Timmons Roberts, College of William and Mary
Thomas Dietz, Michigan State University
Eugene Rosa, Washington State University
Riley Dunlap, Oklahoma State University
Joel Scheraga, Environmental Protection Agency
Barbara Entwisle, University of North Carolina
Rachel Slocum, St. Cloud State University
Marina Fischer-Kowalski, Alps-Adria University
Paul Stern, National Research Council
Dana R. Fisher, Columbia University
Kathleen Tierney, University of Colorado
Ken Frank, Michigan State University
Beverly Wright, Dillard University
Eric Hanley, University of Kansas
Richard York, University of Oregon
Sharon Harlan, Arizona State University
Sammy Zahran, Colorado State University
Patricia Romero Lankao, National Center for
Atmospheric Research
Student Associates
Anna-Lisa Aunio, McGill University Umar Moulta-Ali, Ohio State University
Xiaodong Chen, Michigan State University Vikrum Sequeira, University of Texas at Austin
Lindsey Feitz, University of Kansas Rachel Shwom, Michigan State University
Monique Laney, University of Kansas John Tribbia, University of Colorado at Boulder
Philip Mancus, University of Oregon
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
olial,
On May 30-31, 2008, a workshop on Sociological Perspectives on Global Climate Change was held at NSF in
Arlington, Virginia. The workshop was funded by an NSF grant from the Sociology Program to Drs. Joane Nagel,
University of Kansas; Jeffrey Broadbent, University of Minnesota; and Thomas Dietz, Michigan State University.
The purpose of the workshop was threefold: identify ways to 1) increase sociology’s capacity to conduct climate
change research, 2) motivate research that contributes solutions to a global problem of historical importance,
and 3) expand sociological participation in interdisciplinary research and education about global climate change.
Workshop participants were asked to answer two questions in their short papers and workshop deliberations:
What is the state of sociological research on global climate change? What are the major research questions
that sociologists should be asking and seeking to answer about climate change? The workshop was intended
to contribute to advancing sociological research on global climate change, and thus to advancing the research
capacity, tools, and infrastructure in the social sciences.
This report is organized into four sections; the first three parallel the organization of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change 2007 Fourth Assessment Report’s Summary for Policymakers1 which identifies causes,
impacts, and mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change.
Part I outlines the current state of sociological knowledge and opportunities for future research about the social
causes of global climate change; several theoretical and empirical research areas in sociology are referenced
both for the knowledge they have already generated and for their potential to contribute to further research on the
causes of climate change: global political economy, human ecology and environmental impact models, cultural
and meaning systems, macro-comparative policy research, social organization of science and science policy.
Part II identifies the current state of sociological knowledge and opportunities for future research about social
impacts of global climate change; relevant theoretical and empirical research areas in sociology are referenced
both for the knowledge they have already generated and for their potential to contribute to further research on the
causes of climate change: environmental justice, disaster research, human health, security and conflict, and social
demography and population research.
Part III summarizes the current state of sociological knowledge and opportunities for future research about the
social dimensions of mitigation and adaptation to global climate change; several theoretical and empirical
research areas in sociology are referenced both for the knowledge they have already generated and for their
potential to contribute to further research on mitigation and adaptation efforts: global governance, risk assessment
and decision making, cultures of consumption, contributions to advocacy and action research, and organizations
and networks.
Part IV contains recommendations to sociologists and to funding agencies, including NSF, for advancing
sociological research on global climate change including recommendations for catalyzing the discipline of
sociology, forging interdisciplinary collaborations, and developing the capacity and infrastructure to increase
sociology’s contribution to understanding and responding to global climate change.
1 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report, Summary for Policymakers (Cambridge
University Press, 2007).
4
Executive Summary
Recommendations for catalyzing the discipline:
• Build capacity by increasing the number of researchers in the sociological study of the environment.
• Increase the presence of sociologists in climate change research and policy organizations.
• Provide funding opportunities to develop and conduct research projects that investigate the human
dimensions of climate change.
• Develop an American Sociological Association committee and position statement on climate change.
• Facilitate sociologists’ access to climate change research and policy networks.
Recommendations for forging interdisciplinary collaborations:
• Facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and training.
• Encourage sociologists to embrace multi-method frameworks.
• Increase support of research networks and collaborations with natural scientists and engineers.
• Increase training of sociologists in natural science approaches to global climate change.
• Fund summer institutes that facilitate interdisciplinary working groups.
Recommendations for capacity building and infrastructure development:
• Include social scientists and social science data collection in large-scale ecological observation projects
such as the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network.
• Include data collection on climate change in currently supported data infrastructure projects such as the
General Social Survey (GSS), Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), and the American National
Election Studies (ANES).
• Organize follow-up workshops to bring together environmental sociologists with sociologists
specializing in models and tools to inform the study of climate change such as GIS specialists,
demographers, network analysts, and consumer culture researchers.
• Develop an interdisciplinary Social Environmental Observatory Network (SEON).
• Create a training institute focused on the social dimensions of climate change.
The report concludes with appendices that list workshop participants, present the workshop agenda, and include
the papers submitted by workshop participants. A complete copy of this report along with recommended readings
and other useful information for climate change students and researchers is available on the University of Kansas
Center for Research on Global Change website: http://ireswb.cc.ku.edu/~crgc/NSFWorkshop.
5
6
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments 3
Executive Summary 4
Background 9
Part I: Sociological Analyses of the Causes of Global Climate Change 13
17
Part II: Sociological Perspectives on the Impacts of Global Climate Change
Part III: Sociological Approaches to Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation 21
Part IV: Recommendations for Advancing Sociological Research on Global Climate Change 25
25
Recommendations for Catalyzing the Discipline
27
Recommendations for Forging Interdisciplinary Collaborations
28
Recommendations for Capacity Building and Infrastructure Development
Appendices
31
Appendix 1: Workshop Participants
33
Appendix 2: Workshop Agenda
35
Appendix 3: Workshop Papers
Michele Betsill, Colorado State University Marta Maldonado, Iowa State University
Steven Brechin, Syracuse University Sabrina McCormick, Michigan State University
Jeffrey Broadbent, University of Minnesota Aaron McCright, Michigan State University
Robert Bullard, Clark Atlanta University Joane Nagel, University of Kansas
Penelope Canan, University of Central Florida Kari Norgaard, Whitman College
JoAnn Carmin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Simone Pulver, Brown University
Thomas Dietz, Michigan State University Timmons Roberts, College of William and Mary
Riley Dunlap, Oklahoma State University Eugene Rosa, Washington State University
Barbara Entwisle, University of North Carolina Rachel Slocum, St. Cloud State University
Marina Fischer-Kowalski, Alps-Adria University Paul Stern, National Research Council
Dana R. Fisher, Columbia University Kathleen Tierney, University of Colorado
Ken Frank, Michigan State University Beverly Wright, Dillard University
Eric Hanley, University of Kansas Richard York, University of Oregon
Sharon Harlan, Arizona State University Sammy Zahran, Colorado State University
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Table of Contents
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