Theorizing Climate and Disaster Response, Regulation, and Displacement

Daniel Shtob, CUNY

How can we use social theory to better understand trends in climate and disaster response and regulation? Although climate change, related disasters, and the risks and uncertainties that they bring to bear have gained prominence, we have a short track record analyzing the history of legal and regulatory efforts to respond. Now that more jurisdictions and are learning lessons from early adoption of climate planning and response initiatives, to develop more predictive and proactive climate sociology it is critical that we develop the means to theorize why often well-intentioned decisions mature into maladaptive consequences. Using observations gleaned from early adopting regulatory regimes that have regrettably resulted in displacement and other social ills, this talk will build on conversations about theorizing climate change as social transformation to introduce and frame how to best understand legal, regulatory, and other regimes that are used to plan for climate and disaster. In this way, these emergent histories may be used to sharpen and improve future outcomes.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 88. Environment, Society and Social Theory: Critical Conversations in Historical Sociology