scholarly journals "Change is Coming": Imagined Futures, Optimism and Pessimism Among Youth Climate Protesters

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Jasper Cattell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
Fast Growing ◽  
Youth Politics ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Depth Interviews

In recent years, two unrelated developments have opened up new opportunities for examining how young people relate to climate change and participate in climate politics. First, there is a fast-growing literature in sociology and youth studies concerned with the roles of imagined futures in social action. Second, and more recent, is an explosion of youth-based climate activism, particularly the Fridays For Future movement. In this paper, I draw from in-depth interviews with participants in the Fridays For Future protests in London in Spring 2019, arguing that in this case of youth mobilization, protesters relied on shared, overarching narratives about the future of climate change, albeit ones that allow room for some divergence in opinion. In particular, I examine how regular involvement in the movement influenced participants’ imagined futures. Drawing from studies of similar issues by Kleres and Wettergren (2017) and Threadgold (2012), and from the phenomenological concept of “orientation” (Ahmed, 2005; Carabelli and Lyon, 2016), I argue that regular and repeated participation in climate activism engenders optimism among youth. This opens new ways of thinking about the relationship between political action and young people’s anticipations of climate change, with implications for scholarship of imagined futures, youth politics and climate politics.  

INtergenerational Stories of Erosion and Coastal community Understanding of REsilience ‘INSECURE’

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Parsons ◽  
Florence Halstead ◽  
Lisa Jones
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Coastal Change ◽  
School Students ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Participatory Research Methods ◽  
The Impact

<p>The Holderness has some of the most rapidly eroding coastline in the world, with sections of cliff retreating >10m per year. These rates are due, in large part, to the soft composition of the boulder clay cliffs, but rates are accelerating rapidly in response to climate drivers, particularly storminess and sea-level rise, which is increasing wave loading.</p><p>Withernsea High is a local community school situated close to the eroding cliffs and thus the school students see the day-to-day effects of their changing coastline.  Many of these pupils live within the communities that have ongoing threats of retreating cliffs, with many properties already lost into the sea.</p><p>The INSECURE project has used a matrix of participatory research methods to explore how young people engage, examine and understand coastal change within the context of their place within communities. Students were engaged in an education programme to skill them with knowledge and capability to capture their stories and the narratives of their communities. As such this study has been fully youth-led and participants have collected a suite of intergenerational stories from members of the community and the long-term impacts of coastal change. After analysing their data, the young people are using their voice to retell these stories using a variety of creative storytelling methods in order to re-engage their audiences. The outputs are a range of creative short stories, poems and photographs that enable these stories to be told through the eyes of youth.</p><p>The outcomes of this project will raise awareness and understanding of coastal change and how communities live with these natural processes that are being exacerbated by climate change and will also measure the impact of the project in addressing climate change knowledge and fostering engagement with the environment and broader social action within the communities.</p>

scholarly journals The Atmosphere of Democracy: Knowledge and Political Action

2020 ◽  
pp. 69-91
Author(s):  
Nico Stehr
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe leading scientists debating climate change increasingly view the relationship between knowledge and governance as an “inconvenient democracy.” On the one hand, the discrepancy between the knowledge of climate change and citizens’ commitments to behavioral changes amounts to the diagnosis of an “inconvenient mind”; on the other hand, the inertia of policies to capture progress in knowledge leads to the diagnosis of “inconvenient institutions.” The sense of political ineffectiveness felt especially among climate scientists provokes a strong disenchantment with democratic governance. As a result, some scientists propose that political action based on principles of democratic governance be abandoned. In my article, I argue that such a view is mistaken.

scholarly journals Neoliberalism, political action on climate change and the youth of Aotearoa New Zealand: a space for radical activism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Emma Moon
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Climate Justice ◽  
Climate Change Issue ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Radical Activism

<p>Climate change exists both as a symptom and as a cause of many social ills. It is as urgent as it is complex. Climate change is being addressed internationally through mechanisms heavily influenced by neoliberal globalisation and based around market mechanisms for the trading of carbon dioxide as a commodity, such as the Kyoto Protocol. This has contributed to increasing de-politicisation of the climate change issue. Contestation of neoliberal solutions to climate change has resulted in the birth of climate justice principles which unite action against the systemic causes of climate change. At the heart of action on climate change are young people- historically active citizens and advocates for radical change. In the context of de-politicisation and a post-political carbon consensus, young activists have been influenced by dominant neoliberal discourse. This research will explore the repercussions of a post-political carbon consensus in producing youth-led spaces of contestation in Aotearoa New Zealand. The case study for this research, youth-driven organisation Generation Zero, advocates for post-political carbon consensus by running campaigns on changes to the national Emissions Trading Scheme and other policy-based work. In this thesis, I will describe the extent to which young people within Generation Zero are influenced by the neoliberal discourse and the implications this has for the role of climate justice and radical activism. This research will contribute to the literature around the de-politicisation of climate change as it describes the impact that this has on youth activism and thus the opportunity for future spaces of dissent.</p>

scholarly journals Neoliberalism, political action on climate change and the youth of Aotearoa New Zealand: a space for radical activism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Emma Moon
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Climate Justice ◽  
Climate Change Issue ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Radical Activism

<p>Climate change exists both as a symptom and as a cause of many social ills. It is as urgent as it is complex. Climate change is being addressed internationally through mechanisms heavily influenced by neoliberal globalisation and based around market mechanisms for the trading of carbon dioxide as a commodity, such as the Kyoto Protocol. This has contributed to increasing de-politicisation of the climate change issue. Contestation of neoliberal solutions to climate change has resulted in the birth of climate justice principles which unite action against the systemic causes of climate change. At the heart of action on climate change are young people- historically active citizens and advocates for radical change. In the context of de-politicisation and a post-political carbon consensus, young activists have been influenced by dominant neoliberal discourse. This research will explore the repercussions of a post-political carbon consensus in producing youth-led spaces of contestation in Aotearoa New Zealand. The case study for this research, youth-driven organisation Generation Zero, advocates for post-political carbon consensus by running campaigns on changes to the national Emissions Trading Scheme and other policy-based work. In this thesis, I will describe the extent to which young people within Generation Zero are influenced by the neoliberal discourse and the implications this has for the role of climate justice and radical activism. This research will contribute to the literature around the de-politicisation of climate change as it describes the impact that this has on youth activism and thus the opportunity for future spaces of dissent.</p>

Ethnicity in the Soviet Union: Analytical Perceptions and Political Strategies

1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teodor Shanin
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Facts ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship

Social facts and policies can be understood only in light of our own perceptions. This holds true with a vengeance where ethnicity, nationhood, or nationalism are concerned. All through the twentieth century this syndromecum-terminological chain has played an extensive, puzzling and usually unpredicted part in structuring social life and political action. New ethnic identities (for example, Tanzania'ism or Indonesian'ism) with their related designations and loyalties have cometo the fore with a speed that reveals the transitional and relational nature of ethnic phenomena. The same holds true for the ups and downs of acute nationalism. On the other hand, many throughout the world would agree with the great Catalonian historian, Pierre Vilar, whose internationalist values are not in doubt, that “in the relationship between my own life and history, nationals problems seem to overwhelm all others.” However one may conceptualize ethnicity and nationalism, their political impact has provided a major and continuous dimension of social action.

Origins and Theory of Climate Change Politics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loren R. Cass
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Physical Phenomenon ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
Climate Change Politics

Climate change politics refers to attempts to define climate change as a physical phenomenon as well as to delineate and predict current and future effects on the environment and broader implications for human affairs as a foundation for political action. Defining the causes, scale, time frame, and consequences of climate change is critical to determining the political response. Given the high stakes involved in both the consequences of climate change and the distributive implications of policies to address it, climate change politics has been and remains highly contentious both within and across countries. Climate politics presents difficulties for study given its interdisciplinary nature and the scientific complexities involved in climate change. Climate change politics emerged in the mid- to late 1980s, as climate science became more accessible to policymakers and the public. However, scholarship on international climate politics was relatively slow to develop. Prior to 2008, major publications on international relations (except for policy journals) only lightly touched upon climate politics. Climate change was frequently referenced in articles on a range of topics, but it was not the primary focus of analysis. Since 2008 there has been a dramatic increase in literature focusing on climate change. The possibility of massive economic, political, and ecological dislocation from the consequences of climate change as well as from policies to address the problem have resulted in an extensive literature. Scholars have addressed aspects of climate politics from every paradigm within international relations, as well as drawing on research from numerous related disciplines. The international relations theories that shaped the scholarship on climate politics provide the foundation for understanding the ongoing normative debates surrounding domestic and international policies to address climate change.

scholarly journals Youth Mobilization to Stop Global Climate Change: Narratives and Impact

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 4127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heejin Han ◽  
Sang Wuk Ahn
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Moral Legitimacy ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
Agents Of Change ◽  
Combat Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Governance

Galvanized by Greta Thunberg’s idea for Friday school strikes, “climate strikes” emerged in 2018 and 2019 as a form of youth social movement demanding far-reaching action on climate change. Youths have taken various actions to combat climate change, but academics have not paid sufficient attention to youth climate mobilization. This study thus examines the questions of what has motivated youth to mobilize and how they have shaped global climate politics and governance. This study focuses particularly on the narrative of youth activists to address their understanding of climate change and their ideas regarding how to respond to it. Youth collective action has succeeded in problematizing global climate inaction and inertia and in framing climate change from a justice perspective, but activists have faced limitations in converting their moral legitimacy into the power required for sweeping changes. Overall, this study demonstrates the emergence of young people as agents of change in the global climate change arena and the urgency of engaging them in climate change governance and policymaking.

scholarly journals Searching for Oneself on YouTube: Teenage Peer Socialization and Social Recognition Processes

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630512090947
Author(s):  
Claire Balleys ◽  
Florence Millerand ◽  
Christine Thoër ◽  
Nina Duque
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Recognition ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Peer Culture ◽  
Peer Socialization ◽  
Socialization Processes ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Depth Interviews

YouTube is the preferred online platform for today’s teenagers. As such, this article explores the relationship between socialization processes in adolescent peer culture and the meanings behind the production and reception of YouTube videos by teenage audiences. Two fields of enquiry comprise the data analyzed in this article. First, through content analysis, we studied the production of videos on YouTube by teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18. The discursive construction of an audience is expressed by YouTubers through intimate identity performances using specific, dialogical, and conversational modes. The second study investigated the reception of these videos by teenagers between the ages of 12 and 19 through the use of focus groups and in-depth interviews. The results explained the way young people develop a sense of closeness with YouTubers. When examined collectively, our studies reveal how teenage YouTube practices, both as production and reception of content, constitute a twofold social recognition process that incorporates a capacity to recognize oneself in others—like figures with whom one can identify with—and a need to be recognized by others as beings of value. The “intimate confessional production format,” as we have termed it, reinforces this bond.

Normative Debates and Policy Responses in Climate Change Politics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loren R. Cass
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Physical Phenomenon ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Address Climate Change ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Climate Change Politics

Climate change politics refers to attempts to define climate change as a physical phenomenon as well as to delineate current and predict future effects on the environment and broader implications for human affairs as a foundation for political action. Defining the causes, scale, time frame, and consequences of climate change is critical to determining the political response. Given the high stakes involved in both the consequences of climate change and the distributive implications of policies to address climate change, climate change politics has been and remains highly contentious both within countries and across countries. Climate politics presents difficulties for study given its interdisciplinary nature and the scientific complexities involved in climate change. The international relations literature surrounding climate politics has also evolved and grown substantially since the mid-2000s. Efforts to address the consequences of climate change have evoked controversial ethical and distributive justice questions that have produced an important normative literature. These debates increasingly inform the ongoing negotiations surrounding responsibility for the problem of climate change and the policies required to address climate change. There is also a larger debate regarding the complex linkages between climate change and broader ecological as well as economic and political consequences of both the effects of climate change and policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or remove them from the atmosphere. As we enter the 2020s, a new debate has emerged related to the implications of the posited transition to the Anthropocene Epoch and the future of climate politics. Normative and policy debates surrounding climate change politics remain contentious without a clear path to meaningful political action.

scholarly journals Positive Youth Action Towards Climate Change

2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Buttigieg ◽  
Paul Pace
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Young People ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Environmental Activism ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Past Life ◽  
Environmental Organisation ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract This study focuses on the experiences of young people who are leaders of change in the environmental field. This study views environmental activism as a personal commitment towards pro-environmental behaviour. The motivations and challenges of such work are viewed as important to learn more not only about volunteering in environmental organisations, but also about pro-environmental behaviour. The main research problem was to explore these individualsí present and past life experiences, in the light of their activism, towards the issue of climate change. Narrative inquiry was chosen as a methodology for this research as it gives importance to experience and facilitates the study of an issue in all of its wholeness and complexity. The research involved in-depth interviews with three participants as well as living alongside the participants in an effort to build a relationship with them and to experience being an environmental activist. The participants were members of a local environmental organisation ñ Friends of the Earth (Malta). The outcomes of this study provide an opportunity for reflection on the factors that affect pro-environmental attitudes and behaviour and their implications on environmental education. This reflection will enable informed efforts to engage more young people in environmental activism. From the narratives produced, it is clear that there is no single factor that is optimal for promoting pro-environmental behaviour and environmental activism. These are, in fact, determined by a combination of interrelated factors.

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