ABSTRACT
Typically, climate science is treated as a body of facts, ideas, and claims. This chapter draws upon ideas in STS, sociology, and feminist theory to demonstrate that climate science is more fundamentally a field of social practices. By following what is discussed as the social life of climate science, the chapter draws upon examples from empirical research, especially in the Alaskan context, to contribute to three major questions. First, in what way is climate science an objective science? Taking into account the who of climate science, I argue, helps us understand how climate science might make clear its assumptions, questions, and underlying value frameworks. Doing so makes science better and more accountable to socially determined goals. Second, if science is a matter of social life, what explains how it changes? Answering this question provides a way to think about how the orientation of climate science, for better or worse, is shaped by social interests. Third, how is science related to other social institutions? Here, the chapter addresses how the field of climate science is tied up with political dynamics and with the nation-state.
