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Avoiding cultural trauma: climate change and social inertia
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Avoiding cultural trauma: climate change and social inertia

Robert J. Brulle and Kari Marie Norgaard
Environmental politics, v 28(5), pp 886-908
29 Jul 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2018.1562138
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel

Abstract

cultural trauma framing neo-institutionalism post-politics social inertia Climate Change
The failure of societies to respond in a concerted, meaningful way to climate change is a core concern of the social science climate literature. Existing explanations of social inertia display little coherence. Here, a theoretical approach is suggested that integrates disparate perspectives on social inertia regarding climate change. Climate change constitutes a potential cultural trauma. The threat of cultural trauma is met with resistance and attempts to restore and maintain the status quo. Thus, efforts to avoid large-scale social changes associated with climate change constitute an effort to avoid cultural trauma, and result in social inertia regarding climate change at individual, institutional, and societal levels. Existing approaches to social inertia are reviewed. An intellectual framework utilizing the work of Pierre Bourdieu is proposed to integrate these different levels of social interaction. Social processes that maintain social order and thus avoid cultural trauma create social inertia regarding climate change.

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116 citations in Web of Science
124 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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#13 Climate Action

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Environmental Studies
Political Science
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