Perception of Climate Change and Protest

• In Event: Public Opinion, Collective Action, and Climate Change

Abstract

Climate change and environmental hazards have become one of the most detrimental and destructive menaces to society in the 21st century. Especially prone to supply shortages, uninhabitable grounds, or an incline in natural disasters are citizens of the Global South as they are disproportionally affected by the consequences of environmental degradation. While there is much research on the causes of climate change, less is known about its socio-economic and political effects. Of particular interest is the political mobilization of individuals in response to climate-change induced setbacks. Why do some people participate in environmental protest while others do not, even though they are equally affected? I argue that the perception of environmental changes is crucial in understanding protest mobilization. I investigate to what extend individuals associate their deprivation to climate change and whether grievances eventually transfer into political action. Introducing novel geo-coded data on climate-change induced protest in the Global South, I explore in how far the perception of climate change motivates protest participation.

Author

• Rebecca Strauch, University of Konstanz