University of Michigan's research exposes gap in sociology on climate change crisis

The study found there was almost no mention of climate change in the leading sociology, faculty biographies, conference sessions and course listings in top-ranked departments in the U.S.

Study in US: The University of Michigan research has claimed that there is a gap in sociology: a lack of focus on climate change. It indicates a critical requirement for sociological insight in handling the climate change crisis.

Sofia Hiltner, U-M doctoral candidate in sociology, "Societies fuel and face the consequences of this crisis, but sociology as a discipline appears insufficiently engaged with the issue."

“This deficit threatens sociology’s relevance to human welfare. It also limits our understanding of the climate crisis as a social problem and our ability to imagine responses,” said Hiltner.

More details of study related to climate change

Hiltner examined a wider range of forums for extending the earlier work on this area. She studied articles from conference sessions at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, generalist sociology journals, articles from a range of forums, course provided in U.S. News 20 top-ranked sociology departments, and faculty biographies.

“These last measures are critical because they provide insight into the education of students—the sociologists of the future,” Hiltner said.

Through her research, she found that there is no or limited attention given to this subject in all these forums. With this study, Hiltner wants to start a debate on this crucial topic of our time.

Elizabeth Armstrong, U-M professor of sociology and an affiliate of the Population Studies Center said, “Sociology is good at documenting disparities along multiple dimensions, and thus should be part of the conversation. Sociologists are also very good at analyzing why social change is hard to accomplish and can contribute to explaining why the policy changes necessary to make large-scale structural change are so hard to accomplish.”

"Sociology is scarce in climate change research and major assessments, such as the U.S. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports. Social scientists have long lamented the dominance of the natural sciences—and within the relatively small space occupied by the social sciences, the dominance of economics—in climate research and policymaking," reads the official statement of the university.

Hiltner suggests that going forward sociologists should consider the relation between their areas of interest and climate change and promote attention to this extremely important topic in students' education and future sociologists.

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