DOI

https://doi.org/10.25772/9HRP-1489

Defense Date

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Meredith Katz

Abstract

This research considers a range of public explanations making sense of the current climate crisis. Through 16 in-depth interviews with high status individuals, I highlight the role of economic stability in individual understandings of climate change. Informed by the theoretical work of Kari Norgaard (2011) on living in denial and Ulrich Beck’s (1996) understanding of risk perception in modernity, this work unpacks how individuals narrate the problem of climate change in their lives, and what impacts their security in the environment surrounding them has on their choice of action to the perceived risk of climate change. This research is one of the first qualitative studies examining individual risk perceptions as they relate to climate change.

Rights

© The Author

Is Part Of

VCU University Archives

Is Part Of

VCU Theses and Dissertations

Date of Submission

5-9-2022

Available for download on Saturday, May 08, 2027

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