Stockholm social scientists participating in important climate debate

“Sociology offers crucial insights about the societal practices that affect the sustainability of our planet – and why it is so difficult to change them,” says Dr Marcus Carson, a researcher specialising in political and environmental issues at the Department of Sociology.

“The Natural Sciences have helped us understand how human activities can degrade global ecosystems – for example, that there are serious problems with the way we’re consuming energy on the planet. Natural science also tells us a lot about the kinds of solutions that might work, but not much about how to get there. We need social sciences like Sociology to help us understand problems of environmental-social-economic sustainability, policy-making processes, and how we manage the substantial cultural and institutional changes needed to make the transition to a wiser use of our planet’s resources.” 

Dr Carson, originally from the USA, has been at Stockholm University since 2002 and is currently involved in two projects that examine factors influencing the development of climate policy. He was recently awarded a four-year research grant from FORMAS to do comparative analysis of the development of US and EU climate policy. He is also collaborating on a Swedish Research Council funded project ”Policy Networks and Environmental Sustainability” with colleague Christofer Edling – also from the Department of Sociology. The project is part of COMPON, an international comparative project on policy networks and climate policy. 

Carson’s sentiments regarding the significance of sociology in the climate debate are largely echoed by leading environmental journalist Andrew C. Revkin, who writes the popular Dot Earth blog for the New York Times.

“The scariest science by far is not the glaciology or what’s happening with Antarctica. It’s  the sociology,” Revkin told NPR’s Science Friday earlier this year “Human nature and looming risks that are cumulative are not a good mix. Not dealing with the problem is like leaving your homework until the last minute – and then you’re in deep do-do.”

“Different stakeholders have different priorities,” says Dr Carson. “Part of our research is to gather data from organizations such as environmental NGOs, conservative think tanks, human-rights groups, political organizations and so on and get a better understanding of what shapes and motivates their actions.”

As with many sustainability problems, understanding climate change is challenging not only because the system is complex, but because our senses have difficulty grasping the evidence and time scales.

“A one-off event like a cold summer is not proof that warming is not occurring and a single intense storm does not prove that it is,” explains Dr Carson. “We use conceptual models to make sense of the information, but these models include not only what is happening and how, but what kinds of actions should be taken and who to trust for information. Sociological research helps us clarify how these models are constructed and how they are promoted among different groups in society. A better understanding of these factors improves our chances of developing policies that support long-term sustainability.”

The results of Carson and Edling’s project Policy Networks and Environmental Sustainability are expected in 2010.

Text and interview: Jon Buscall