Barbara Entwisle
University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLocal Perspectives on Global Climate Change: Modeling Neighborhood DynamicsWhat do we know: What does Sociology bring to the table for studying the human dimensions of global
climate change?
In considering the potential contribution of sociology to the study of global climate change, I start with the fact
that the discipline is fundamentally concerned with people in context. Our theory, data, and tools are well suited
to questions about how people respond to their local environments. And, indeed, climate change will be felt
locally. The phenomenon is global, but its consequences spatially heterogeneous, and ultimately interact with
characteristics of local environments in affecting the people who live there (CCSP 2008).
There is a long tradition within sociology of examining a variety of outcomes at the individual and
household level within a larger context such as a neighborhood or community (Entwisle 2007; Mayer and Jencks
1989; Sampson et al. 2002) that might be readily adapted to the study of climate change impacts. In developed
countries such as the United States, research has focused primarily on the effects of neighborhood poverty, racial
composition, and turnover. Given appropriate measurement, it is straightforward to include measures of the
biophysical environment within the general multilevel framework.
According to the latest IPCC assessment, the prevalence and severity of heat waves, cold snaps, drought,
and storm-induced flooding are among the possible consequences of global climate change. Their consequences
for the health and wellbeing of individuals depend on other characteristics of the natural and social environment
as well as local adaptation and mitigation strategies. A recent review of multilevel studies of health showed a
neglect of the biophysical environment, including features related to or potentially consequent from climate
change (Entwisle 2007). An exception is a study by Browning et al. (2006), who used a multilevel approach to
study heat-related mortality in the 1995 Chicago heat wave.
To incorporate features of the biophysical environment into the general multilevel framework,
sociologists need to develop an understanding of local contexts as places, i.e., local sociospatial environments.
A consequence of relying so heavily on survey and census data to characterize contexts is that these local
environments are somehow disembodied, not rooted. To understand the consequences of climate change, or
indeed to incorporate a more complete understanding of the biophysical environment more generally, requires us
to “put people in place.” Most research examining the effects of local context on an individual outcome utilize
social survey data. It is straightforward to geocode the locations of survey respondents and then incorporate
information about the biophysical and spatial environment within a GIS. It is important to note that there are
deductive disclosure risks associated with releasing the locations of survey participants, even just their zip code or
county of residence (Van Wey et al. 2005).
What do we need to know: What are the major sociological research questions?
To make progress, sociologists need to broaden their conceptualization to include all dimensions of the local
context, including dimensions of the natural environment. We need to consider that risks associated with
the natural environment are multiple and complex, and further, that features of social context may combine
with climate-related impacts to magnify, or mitigate, those impacts. If heat-related mortality is higher in poor
neighborhoods with less commercial activity (and fewer air conditioned establishments where the elderly can