10206 - The Sociology of Climate Change

Description

Climate change is fundamentally transforming society and its impacts will only intensify with time. Yet many sociologists are still figuring out how to talk about it. Long-term climate sociologists have made great strides in explaining the global and local inequalities of climate impacts, how climate policies are developed or obstructed, how activists have advocated for climate justice, and identifying the intersections with core sociological concerns in race, politics, labor, and health, among others. However, there remains a need to expand the scope of sociological inquiry on climate change and to welcome new scholars from across the discipline to this topic.

In line with the growing visibility of climate impacts, there has been a clear surge in sociological attention to climate change in recent years. This preconference will work to harness and amplify this surge to establish a far-reaching sociology of climate change. Recently, former Eastern Sociological Society President Dr. Dana Fisher led a successful climate change-themed annual meeting in 2024. Then, at the ASA conference the following August, Dr. Rene Almeling, a newcomer to sociological work on climate change, put together an informal meet-up to gather seasoned and budding climate scholars, and over 60 sociologists attended. It was there that enthusiasm around the idea for this preconference arose.

The goal for this preconference is to bring together sociologists from diverse sub-disciplines and varied levels of experience engaging with the issue of climate change, to lay the foundation for sustained disciplinary attention to climate change going forward. It will also work to foster the cross-pollination of ideas for fruitful collaborations and conversations to develop among colleagues. Given the escalating suppression of climate-related work diffusing into our institutions from the federal government, forming research communities on this topic is more important now than ever before.

Sub Unit

• Preconferences

Presenters

• Rachael Shwom, Rutgers University-New Brunswick

• Debra J. Davidson, University of Alberta

• Juliet B. Schor, Boston College

• Andrew K. Jorgenson, University of British Columbia

• Steven R. Brechin, Rutgers University-New Brunswick

• Dana R. Fisher, American University

• Hillary Angelo, University of California-Santa Cruz

• Xiaorui Huang, Boston College

• Daniel Aldana Cohen, University of California-Berkeley

• Thomas Marlow, Texas A&M University-College Station

• Caleb Scoville, Tufts University

• Andrew McCumber, Virginia Tech

• Rene Almeling, Yale University

• Daniel Hirschman, Cornell University

• Ioana Sendroiu, University of Hong Kong

• Benjamin Bradlow, Princeton University

• Jamie Louise Budnick, Cornell University

• Daniel Alain Evrard, Harvard University

• Amanda Sie, Rutgers University-New Brunswick

• Joyce Ho, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

• Andrew Malmuth, University of California-Los Angeles

• Livio Silva Silva-Muller, Harvard University

• Abby Westberry, New York University

Session Organizers

• Danielle Falzon, Rutgers University-New Brunswick

• Raka Sen, Arizona State University

• Brianna Castro, Yale School of the Environment

• Vitor Martins Dias, Butler University

• Ankit Bhardwaj, Northwestern University

• Miranda Ysabel Simes, Northwestern University

• Joshua A. Basseches, Tulane University