Climate Change and Society Sociological Perspectives

Climate change is one of the most critical issues of the twenty-first century, presenting a major intellectual challenge to both the natural and social sciences. While there has been significant progress in natural science understanding of climate change, social science analyses have not been as fully developed. Climate Change and Society breaks new theoretical and empirical ground by presenting climate change as a thoroughly social phenomenon, embedded in behaviors, institutions, and cultural practices.

This collection of essays summarizes existing approaches to understanding the social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of climate change. From the factors that drive carbon emissions to those which influence societal responses to climate change, the volume provides a comprehensive overview of the social dimensions of climate change. An improved understanding of the complex relationship between climate change and society is essential for modifying ecologically harmful human behaviors and institutional practices, creating just and effective environmental policies, and developing a more sustainable future. Climate Change and Society provides a useful tool in efforts to integrate social science research, natural science research, and policymaking regarding climate change and sustainability.

Produced by the American Sociological Association's Task Force on Sociology and Global Climate Change, this book presents a challenging shift from the standard climate change discourse, and offers a valuable resource for students, scholars, and professionals involved in climate change research and policy.

Riley E. Dunlap is Dresser Professor and Regents Professor in the Department of Sociology at Oklahoma State University, and previously served as Boeing Distinguished Professor of Environmental Sociology at Washington State University. He is senior editor of the Handbook of Environmental Sociology (Greenwood Press, 2002) and Sociological Theory and the Environment (Rowman Littlefield, 2002).

Dr. Robert Brulle is a Professor of Sociology and Environmental Science in the Department of Sociology at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has published numerous scholarly articles, and is the author of Agency, Democracy and the Environment: The U.S. Environmental Movement from the Perspective of Critical Theory (MIT Press) and, with David Pellow, is the co-editor of Power, Justice and the Environment (MIT Press).