Joan Nagel Jeffery Broadbent Thomas Dietz University of Kansas
The PIs seek support to convene a workshop on "Sociological Perspectives on Global Climate Change." This workshop represents a first effort to systematically engage sociologists on this issue of pressing global concern. The goal of the workshop is to articulate Sociology's potential basic scientific contributions to what the National Academy of Sciences has identified as one of grand challenges of the 21st century--understanding the human dimensions of climate change. Sociologists have an array of theoretical perspectives and methodological tools that can be bought to bear on the subject. The workshop would bring together sociologists who are addressing climate change in their research as well as sociologists, who work on related topics, but have not yet engaged questions of climate-related global change. The PIs also plan to invite non-sociologists who are key leader in human dimensions of climate research to help link the sociological community to ongoing efforts and important agencies. The 2008 workshop envisions capacity building through the development of a research agenda that: (1) identifies core areas of and gaps in established sociological knowledge about climate change and topics related to climate change; (2) facilitates interaction and collaboration among sociologists working on climate-related research, (3) catalyzes new sociological research on the causes and consequences of global climate change; and (4) articulates the potential for the incorporation of sociological perspective in interdisciplinary climate change research. Workshop participants will spotlight challenges and opportunities for sociologists to engage in both disciplinary and interdisciplinary research on climate change and in doing so broaden the number and perspectives of sociological and other scholars who study global climate change
The workshop addresses an area in which sociologists have not previously conducted significant research. For example, the program for the 2007 annual meetings of the American Sociological Association (ASA) lists one session on global climate change. Planned future sessions at ASA and the dissemination of workshop papers and proceedings will highlight both the importance, and potential contributions of sociology to the study of global climate change. The workshop's broader impacts are threefold. Specifically, the meeting will (1) increase sociology's capacity to conduct climate change research, (2) motivate research that contributes solutions to a global problem of historical importance and (3) expand sociological participation in interdisciplinary research and education about global climate change. In short, it will contribute to enhanced sociological research to help inform scientific and policy debates about climate change.
