DISCUSSION: Self-reflection about our reaction to claimsmaking about climate change | Online Homework Aiders

Help me study for my Sociology class. I’m stuck and don’t understand.

Public Opinion and the Environment

This week the case study you are reading about focuses on claimsmaking around environmental justice. However, there is a lot of public opinion data about the environment and climate change more broadly. Joel Best points out that people rely on three sources of information in their thinking about social problems:

• popular wisdom/common sense
• personal experiences
• media messages

In addition, social location (such as race, class, gender, age, education, etc.) also shapes how people think about social problems.

Take notes on the findings in each of the datasets linked below

1. Explore these interactive maps about public opinion in the U.S. about climate change, comparing 2016 and 2018. Examine which places have higher beliefs in global warming and worry about global warming and how that has changed over time.

2. Read the article about this recent national poll. What does this poll tell us about the role of personal experience in shaping public opinion?

3. Read the articles about this national polland this more recent national data. What do they tell us about which demographic groups see climate change as problem?

4. Read the article about this California poll. What does this CA poll tells us about which demographic groups see climate change as a problem?

5. Read this analysis of how public opinion about climate change has changed over time. What does the article suggest about why people have gotten more concerned about climate change over the last decade?

6. Listen to the first 17 and a half minutes of this podcast about increasing political polarization in public opinion about climate change:

Listen to “Why Is Climate Change So Politically Polarizing?” on Spreaker.

(If you are curious about public opinions about climate change *outside* the U.S., check out this slideshow: http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/11/05/2015-climate-change-survey-presentation/ and this more recent global data: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/18/a-look-at-how-people-around-the-world-view-climate-change/)

DISCUSSION: Self-reflection about our reaction to claimsmaking about climate change

You are a member of “the public.” 😉 You undoubtedly have beliefs and attitudes about climate change, which you hold in a context of claimsmaking regarding climate change. After reading all of the research here, exploring the interactive maps, listening to the podcast, and thinking about how popular wisdom, personal experiences, media messages, political messages and social location shape public opinion, I would like you to reflect on how these things have affected your own opinions about climate change. YOU MUST REFER EXPLICITLY TO THE DATA IN THE LINKS ABOVE AND PLACE YOURSELF WITHIN THAT DATA. Thinking sociologically, why do you think or feel the way you do about climate change? Use your sociological imagination to reflect on your own opinions and how these social processes have shaped them. You must write at least one full paragraph (roughly 150 words) to get credit.