Accounting for the Performance of Environmentally Significant Behavior
The Symbolic Significance of Recycling
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2049124 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gail Markle (Kennesaw State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 246-263 |
| Publication date | 2014-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Symbolic Interaction (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0195-6086 • E-ISSN: 1533-8665 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/symb.102 |
| OpenAlex | W1606341996 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 44 |
The scientific community has pronounced climate change unequivocal and its consequences disastrous. Yet Americans' behavioral response to the global social problem of environmental degradation has been largely confined to the individual act of recycling. This article examines why Americans are not doing more to address climate change and other environmental issues. Taking a cognitive sociological perspective, I describe how Americans think about environmental issues and pro-environmental behavior. I draw on Swidler's concept of a 'cultural tool kit,' to examine the cultural narratives Americans use to account for the small amount of pro-environmental behavior they perform. The act of recycling functions as a synecdoche for pro-environmental behavior in general, allowing individuals to over-claim the significance of a modest amount of pro-environmental behavior. I argue that Americans' failure to engage with environmental issues at a collective level is rooted in the individualized culture of American environmentalism
Environmental ethics · Environmental justice · Environmentalism · Metonymy · Narrative · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Synecdoche · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Law · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology
Human Nature and the Social Order
Studies in ethnomethodology
Frame analysis
The politics of climate change
Living in Denial
Break Through
The Rearguard of Modernity
State of Denial
Competing Visions of the American Single-Family Home
Globalizing Corporate Environmentalism? Convergence and Heterogeneity in Indian Industry
Defeating Kyoto
Social marking and the mental coloring of identity
The social construction of reality
Ideology and utopia
Recycling Reconsidered
From the Native's Point of View
Aligning Actions
Culture in Action
Accounts
Techniques of Neutralization
Beyond the ABC
The organisation of denial
Politics and Environment in America
Accounts of False Memory Syndrome
Embodying the Environment in Everyday Life Practices
Stories and Relationships
Identity Salience and Role Performance
Challenging Global Warming as a Social Problem
Climate Change and Society
People's Accounts Count
Culture and Cognition
Grounded Theory Methods and Qualitative Family Research
The Politicization of Climate Change and Polarization in the American Public's Views of Global Warming, 2001-2010
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,6 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2025 (10) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |