Abstract

Sociology of climate change focuses on how different societies perceive, experience, and respond to the acceleration of climate change and its impact on society. The authors of this chapter review the theory of the discipline’s classics to examine the connections between the social world and the physical environment and analyze how climate change shapes and is shaped by political, social, and economic relationships. Sociological reflection contributes to seeing climate change as a complex of common, local, and global goods. The debate also hinges on how climate change is experienced differently by those in a state of vulnerability. Through important transdisciplinary research, social sciences will be able to analyze the social transitions in progress, trace solutions for “adaptation” proposals, and change behaviors and perceptions of different social actions.