Social Theory and Environmental Change

Session Submission Type: Paper Session (90 minute)

Description

The reality of rapid environmental change, as well as increased recognition of how social dynamics are in some senses also ecological dynamics, has led to increased sociological attention to environment. This panel will examine how social theory can best continue to bring environmental change into its remit, both today and in the near future. It welcomes conversation and critique of fundamental questions, for instance what it might even mean to do “environmental” social theory in 2026, as well as papers on particular substantive processes and problems, epistemological approaches, and/or ontological arguments. The goal of this session, however, is not to rehearse well-worn debates regarding any line between society and environment. It is instead to put scholars into conversation across distinct analytical registers and perspectives so that social theory can more precisely turn toward the interactive nature of social and environmental change.

Sub Unit

• Theory Section / Social Theory and Environmental Change

Presider

• Jordan Fox, SUNY-Buffalo

Individual Presentations

• Adjacent Ecologies: Social Worlds and Environmental Change in a French Marshland (Marais Poitevin). - Romain Cazaux, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

• No Return: Refractive Materialism and New Ecology - Laird Gallagher, Brown University

• Overshoot Urbanization: Endless Growth, Excess Carbon, and Houston’s Planetary Reach - Joshua Silver, The University of Chicago

• The Corporation and White Settler Subject: Environmental Harm as Racial Colonial Betrayal - Lauren Richter, University of Toronto

• The Intervention Cascade: Environmental Problems in Differentiated Society - Caleb Scoville, Tufts University

Discussant

• Chris M. Rea, Brown University

Session Organizer

• Jordan Fox, SUNY-Buffalo