Steven R. Brechin
Syracuse UniversityWhat do we know: What does Sociology bring to the table for studying the human dimensions of global
climate change?
Introduction: When it comes to climate change/global warming I am actually quite pessimistic about our future.
I do not see a global collection of societies – peoples, economies and governments - responding quickly or fully
enough to avert a changing global climate. Consequently I believe significant social consequences will follow. It
all becomes a matter of degree of outcome. And this is an important matter.
At the same time, my pessimism should not be mistaken for compliancy or a belief in a fatalistic
outcome. I do not advocate doing nothing at all. We must try to make a difference and social scientists, including
us sociologists, can help by both improving our odds of responding appropriately and diminishing the social
consequences that will follow. The following reflections are thumbnail sketches of topics that perhaps should be
explored in greater depth. I took this scattergun approach as a strategy to see if a few may “stick to the wall.” My
subheadings are: Tipping Points; Bias against Teleology; Individuals to a System of Nations; Responding Before
or After?; Understanding Public Attitudes and Values – A Conundrum; The Political Economy of the 2% Problem;
and Institutional Theory and the Sociological Study of Complex Formal Organizations.
Sociologists do indeed bring the power of the sociological imagination to the study of social processes
and outcomes. Our methodologies are diverse as our subject matter and provide powerful tools to pursue social
inquiry. Sociology and sociologists offer a critical approach to understanding social life. Global climate change
represents well the interactions of physical/natural worlds with those of the social, the core ingredients of
environmental sociology. Environmental sociologists specialize at their intersection. With groups as the principal
unit of analysis, we sociologists offer views to understanding how individuals function as part of groups or how
various groups interact with one another. Here the work of Dana Fisher (2004) [National Governance and the
Global Climate Regime] on national and international politics and climate change fits in as does Aaron McCright
and Riley Dunlap, [and more recently Bill Freudenburg et al. on SCAM] clearly show the role of organized
interests groups can influence both the public’s understanding of the problem and political processes themselves
that help to derail needed policy action on climate change. This is sociology at its core and it provides important
tools and perspectives to pursue greater understanding of the climate change problem as well as for designing
solutions to combat its effects.
What do we need to know: What are the major sociological research questions?
Tipping points: I believe in the concept of “tipping point.” [see Malcolm Gladwell (2000) The Tipping Point]
discussion. This is also called the logics curve, logistic function, or sigmoid function]. Of course this cuts both
ways – in terms of the process of an accelerated climate change as well as delaying in us making significant
impacts. Understanding both the science base tipping points regarding our global climate system and the socio-
economic-political ones in terms of responses to slowing or reversing global warming/climate change become the
critical task of all scientists, sociologists as well as for climate scientists. What needs to be asked are there enough
“little thing” to be collected to make a key difference or do we need to focus on large-scale solutions? Or how
most effectively can we achieve tipping points for responding to climate change?