Public Understanding of Climate Change as a Social Dilemma

Stuart Bryce Capstick
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Stuart Bryce Capstick: Understanding Risk Group/ Climate Change Consortium of Wales/ Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, UK

Sustainability, 2013, vol. 5, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: Climate change is often referred to as one of the most complicated challenges facing humanity, characterised in various literatures as a social dilemma operating at multiple scales (individual, national, international). The present study considers the ways in which members of the public interpret climate change in these terms, drawing on data from multiple datasets, both qualitative and quantitative, from 1997 to 2011. As well as drawing out the nuances in participants’ perspectives on the social and societal dilemmas inherent to climate change, the present study also highlights the rejoinders and resolutions proposed by people to these dilemmas. It is suggested that recognition of the ways people find to navigate these difficult issues offers some cause for optimism regarding the public’s conceptualisation of, and response to, climate change.

Keywords: public perceptions; climate change; social dilemma; discourse analysis; psychology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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