ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a literature review of sociological approaches to the study of anthropogenic climate change with the purpose of identifying gaps at the theoretical, methodological and empirical levels that are addressed in the remainder of this study. The chapter discusses the societal changes that are perceived as necessary to address climate change in eco-Marxist and complexity theory literature. Then, it considers ecological modernization approaches and their research into the greening of production, consumption and lifestyles. Also discussed is literature on ecological civilizing processes and on the public understanding of the science of climate change, with a particular focus on media representations of climate change. The final section addresses ‘climate change denial’, focusing on the role of emotions and psychoanalysis to understand popular avoidance of climate change topics.
