Climate change and society : sociological perspectives / edited by Riley E. Dunlap and Robert J. Brulle.

"Report of the American Sociological Association's Task Force on Sociology and Global Climate Change."

Climate change is one of today’s most important issues, presenting an intellectual challenge to the natural and social sciences. While there has been progress in natural science understanding of climate change, social science research has not been as fully developed. This book breaks new theoretical and empirical ground by presenting climate change as a thoroughly social phenomenon, embedded in our institutions and cultural practices. Drawing on a variety of sociological literature, thirty-eight sociologists summarize existing approaches to understanding the social, economic, political, and culture dimensions of climate change, detailing the causes, impacts, and responses. Chapters 2 to 4 focus on factors that drive carbon emissions and situate these factors within social structure and processes. Chapters 5 to 7 examine the impacts of climate change and how sociological perspectives can inform the creation of just and equitable mitigation and adaptation strategies. Chapters 8 to 10 examine the factors that influence how society responds to climate change, including the movements that advocate for or against climate action and public opinion. Chapters 11 and 12 present an overview of debates within social theory about the significance of climate change and how to address it, followed by a review of methodological approaches for studying the relationship between societal and climate phenomena. The concluding chapter takes stock of all these sociological insights and how they fulfill the need for more social science research on climate (and global environmental) change, while also pointing to the importance of further sociological engagement with these topics.