In order to assess the current state of sociological knowledge about global climate change and to expand the
discipline’s engagement in basic research on the human dimensions of global climate change, Joane Nagel,
Director of the Center for Research on Global Change at the University of Kansas; Thomas Dietz, Director of the
Environmental Science and Policy Program at Michigan State University, and Jeffrey Broadbent, Director of the
Comparing Climate Change Policy Networks project at the University of Minnesota organized a workshop on
“Sociological Perspectives on Global Climate Change” at NSF in Arlington, Virginia, on May 30-31, 2008.This workshop brought together environmental sociologists already addressing climate change in their research,
as well as sociologists working on related topics, but not yet pursuing research on climate-related global change.Policy and government officials also contributed overviews of research programs in their organizations. One of
the workshop’s primary goals was to open a dialogue among participants so that they could collectively identify
important climate-related research questions. Specifically the workshop was designed to:• identify core areas of established sociological knowledge about global climate change.• outline significant gaps in sociological knowledge about major topics related to climate change.• facilitate interaction and collaboration among sociologists working on climate-related research.• motivate sociologists to focus on climate change research topics.• catalyze new sociological research on the human causes and consequences of global climate change.• encourage sociological participation in interdisciplinary climate change research.• formulate ways to increase the number of sociologists represented in national and international climate
change research initiatives.• introduce sociologists to leading experts involved in designing and funding human dimensions of global
change research in national agencies and laboratories.Before the workshop, participants were asked to read background materials, including selections from several
key reports, including the IPCC Fourth Assessment Reports from Working Groups I, II, and III, the National
Research Council Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change reports, U.S. Climate Change Science
Program Synthesis and Assessment Product reports, and the International Human Dimensions Programme on
Global Environmental Change (IHDP) Global Environmental Change and Human Health Science Plan and
Implementation Strategy.^6(^6) National Research Council Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change, Decision Making for the Environment: Social
and Behavioral Science Research Priorities, Garry Brewer and Paul Stern, editors (2005); IPCC, Fourth Assessment Report: Climate
Change 2007 – The Physical Science Basis (Working Group I Report); IPCC, Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007 –
Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (Working Group II Report); IPCC, Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007 – Mitigation
of Climate Change (Working Group III Report); International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change,
Strategic Plan 2007-2015: Framing Worldwide Research on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, D. Williamson,
editor (2007); U.S. Climate Change Program, Synthesis and Assessment Product Reports (2006-2008); International Human
Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) Global Environmental Change and Human Health Science Plan and
Implementation Strategy (2007).
Background