Culture and narrative in the moral organization of climate change

• In Event: 2254 - Culture and Narrative

Abstract

Though common opinion holds that beliefs about climate change are highly “polarized”—dividing Americans into two clear camps of believers and non believers—this paper finds that climate action itself is highly disorganized. Based on interviews with approximately 60 individuals employed at organizations highly engaged in the climate change public sphere, we find little consensus regarding what “counts” as climate action in the first place, and identify a proliferation of various strategies, even among climate believers. Instead, we argue that the understanding of climate change as “polarizing” arises from the particular action context of this issue. Where socially-established routes of meaningful or effective action are lacking, individuals have little basis for pushing back against others’ accounts of their motives. Though there exist both “conservative” and “liberal” narratives of others’ climate action—which we call “virtue signaling” and “denialism”—climate change strategies are diverse and idiosyncratic.

Authors

• Alix E Rule, New York University

• Hillary Angelo, University of California - Santa Cruz