Thesis advisor: Juliet B. SchorSince the 1970's, social scientists have argued that general pro-environmental attitudes have diffused throughout American society, rendering socio-demographics largely irrelevant in predicting support for such issues. The public reaction to the issue of climate change, however, evades this narrative. While media bias, ideological framing, and business influence, among others, are partial explanations, I argue that ignoring the potential implications of structure and culture--specifically social class--in determining why the issue is so demonstrably divisive is a crucial mistake. Building upon the postmaterialism thesis of Inglehart with the cultural theory of Bourdieu, I examine how the conception of and reaction to the issue varies with economic and cultural capital using data from 42 interviews of Boston-area respondents. The results suggest that climate change may indeed be a `classed' issue--both in how the respondents conceive of it in the first place, and how they speak of social class in the context of it. The political implications are various, but suggest that coalition formation will need to take account of these differences, both real and perceived, in both engendering public support for mitigation efforts and subsequently combating the problem.Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2011.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Sociology
