Ann Arbor Times

A recent University of Michigan study highlights a significant gap in the field of sociology: a lack of focus on climate change. According to Sofia Hiltner, a U-M doctoral candidate in sociology whose research is published in The American Sociologist, societies both fuel and face the consequences of this crisis, yet the discipline appears insufficiently engaged with the issue.

The study reveals that mentions of climate change are scarce across leading sociology journal articles (0.9%), conference sessions (1.5%), faculty biographies (2.8%), and course listings in top-ranked U.S. departments (0.2%). "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, who is also a predoctoral trainee at the Population Studies Center at the Institute for Social Research.

Hiltner’s research expands on previous work by examining a broader range of forums where engagement might occur, including articles from leading generalist sociology journals, conference sessions from the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, and faculty biographies and course offerings in top-ranked sociology departments according to U.S. News.

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

The findings indicate limited attention to climate change across all examined forums. Less than 1% of articles (38 out of 4,288) in sociology journals substantially addressed climate change. Since 2002, only two major sessions at the ASA Annual Meeting have mentioned it.

Prospective students considering top-20 U.S. sociology programs would find only three departments with more than one faculty member focusing on climate change in their profiles. Additionally, out of over 8,000 courses offered between fall 2019 and spring 2023, only 0.2% were concerned with climate change while 1.4% mentioned environmental topics more broadly.

Climate change is closely linked with national and global patterns of inequality that sociology could assess effectively. Research indicates that marginalized populations worldwide experience more significant impacts from climate-related threats such as extreme heat, storms, air pollution, and floods.

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

Sociology remains underrepresented in climate change research and major assessments like those from the U.S. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports. Social scientists have long lamented the dominance of natural sciences—and within social sciences, economics—in climate research and policymaking.

"With this work, I hope to spark a conversation about the reasons for sociology’s relative silence on climate change, what is at stake, and ways forward," Hiltner stated.

Going forward, Hiltner suggests sociologists consider how climate change relates to their areas of interest and promote its attention in student education and future sociologists' training. She also encourages funders, journalists, and policymakers to foster and integrate social scientists' perspectives on climate change.