Public Perceptions of Global Climate Change

Taking public perceptions of global climate change as an example for contemporary environmental studies from the social sciences, this study from the Frankfurt area experiments with new ways of data generation and data analysis: Concerning the former, moderated focus groups are used in which computer models are presented to inform the participating public about global environmental issues. Concerning the latter, an improved ideal type methodology is applied. After exploring different dimensions of the participants' perceptions of the climate issue (e.g. framings, expectations from experts, change of perceptions during the group process), four ideal types of climate protection and four types of knowledge processing among the general public are differentiated. Both methodology and empirical findings are related to the theory of Reflexive Modernization.

Auteur
The Author: Ralf Schüle, Ph.D., born 1965, worked as researcher and project manager at Darmstadt University of Technology, Dept. of Sociology from 1995 to 1999. Since 2000, he has been project manager at ifeu-Institute of Energy and Environmental Research, Heidelberg, Dept. of Energy. His research fields are environmental sociology, environmental norms, climate policy, local climate protection strategies, and integrated environmental assessment.

Contenu

Contents: Reflexive Modernisation and the investigation of public perceptions of global climate change - Public perceptions of global climate change: framings, images of the future, and expectations from experts - Towards the construction of ideal types of action and learning.