Palgrave Studies in Environmental Sociology and Policy – serie

This book offers a critical analysis of core concepts that have influenced contemporary conversations about environment-society relations in academic, political, and civil circles. Considering these conceptualizations are currently shaping responses to environmental crises in fundamental ways, critical reflections on concepts such as the Anthropocene, metabolism, risk, resilience, environmental governance, environmental justice and others, are well-warranted. Contributors to this volume, working across a multitude of areas within environmental social science, scrutinize underlying worldviews and assumptions, asking a common set of key questions: What are the different concepts able to explain? How do they take into account society-environment relations? What social, cultural, or geo-political biases and blinders are inherent? What actions or practices do the concepts inspire? The transdisciplinary engagement and reflexivity regarding concepts ofenvironment-society relations represented in these chapters is needed in all spheres of society—in academia, policy and practice—not the least to confront current tendencies of anti-reflexivity and denialism.

This book uses the author's personal narrative as a tool to explore environmental sociological thinking and broader societal issues. The author not only traces the birth of environmental sociology as a research field but also emphasizes the crucial role of environmental sociological perspectives. He presents a qualitative analysis of the activities and practices that lead to a sustainable future on a community level in Japan. The book also delves into the social conflicts between the government and residents' movements over public policies such as the development of high-speed transportation networks and nuclear energy policy. The author's analysis of the role of environmental sociology in addressing societal challenges such as environmental pollution, energy transformation, climate crisis, and sustainable futures for society is a key focus of the book. He also examines how the notion of a “sustainable future” in a Japanese context differs from that of the West.

Climate change is as much a cultural phenomenon as it is a natural one. This book is about those cultural patterns that surround our perception of the environmental crisis and which are embodied in the narratives told by climate change advocates. It investigates the themes and motifs in those narratives through the use of narrative theory and cultural sociology.Developing a framework for cultural narrative analysis, Climate Change and Storytelling draws on qualitative interviews with stakeholders, activists and politicians in the USA and Germany to identify motifs and the relationships between heroes, villains and victims, as told by the messengers of the narrative.This book will provide academics and practitioners with insights into the structure of climate change communication among climate advocates and the cultural fabric that informs it.