Social Science Perspectives on Climate Change

Although it is generally accepted that the climate is changing for the worse and that human activities are a major contributing factor in that change, there is still only marginal response to the challenge posed by climate change. The reasons behind this limited response are becoming clearer through the recognition that climate change is not just a set of physical science facts, but it is also part of a series of complex social processes. Consequently, this book is important in providing social science perspectives on a range of attempts to adjust human activity to reduce its environmental impact. These attempts vary from the changing of the dress code in Japanese offices to the creation of zero-carbon, gated communities in Bangalore, India. Taken together, the contributions to this book provide timely insights into the complexities of saving the planet through human endeavour. This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science.

David Canter is an applied social psychologist who started his career in the 1960s as an environmental psychologist at Strathclyde University, Glasgow, UK. Since then he has published the results of his research on a wide range of topics, including the design of offices, hospitals and schools, behaviour in fires and emergencies, and complementary medicine. His 1977 book The Psychology of Place is still widely cited. Over the last quarter of a century he has developed the discipline of Investigative Psychology. He is currently editor of Contemporary Social Science, the journal of the Academy of Social Science.