This article focuses on the comparatively neglected role of the social sciences (including economics) and of assumptions about the social functioning of the scientific community in projections about climate change and about societies' responses to changing climates and related environmental phenomena. Using an approach informed by social constructionism and science and technology studies, it examines the part played by the social sciences and the social institutions of science in making knowledge about the future of humankind in relation to the changing ecosphere. Using a small series of case studies focused on the way that social science features in the shaping of climate knowledge — for example, how value is attached to economic activities in different countries in the course of attempts to calculate the most `rational' global response to the myriad threats of changing climates — the article shows that there is a need for (1) greater understanding of the social dimensions of the scientific community that studies climate change and (2) more social science reflection on the roles of social science in climate-change models and projections.
Bloomfield, Brian P. (1986) Modelling the World: The Social Constructions of Systems Analysts. Oxford: Blackwell .
2.
Boehmer-Christiansen, Sonja (1994) `Global Climate Protection Policy: The Limits Of Scientific Advice, Part 2', Global Environmental Change4: 185-200.
3.
Bruce, James P., Lee, Hoesung and Haites, Erik F. (1996) `Summary for Policymakers' , in James P. Bruce, Hoesung Lee and Erik F. Haites (eds) Climate Change 1995: Economic and Social Dimensions of Climate Change, pp. 5-16. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4.
Buttel, Frederick H. (2000) `Classical Theory and Contemporary Environmental Sociology', in Gert Spaargaren, Arthur P.J. Mol and Frederick H. Buttel (eds) Environment and Global Modernity, pp. 17-39. London: Sage.
5.
Collins, Harry M. (1992) Changing Order: Replication and Induction in Scientific Practice. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
6.
Demeritt, David (2006) `Science Studies, Climate Change and the Prospects for Constructivist Critique', Economy and Society35: 453-79.
7.
Demeritt, David and Rothman, Dale S. (1999) `Figuring the Costs of Climate Change: An Assessment and Critique', Environment and Planning A31(3): 389-408.
8.
Edwards, Paul N. (1996) `Global Comprehensive Models in Politics and Policymaking' , Climatic Change32: 149-61.
9.
Edwards, Paul N. (2000) `The World in a Machine: Origins and Impacts of Early Computerized Global Systems Models', in Agatha C. Hughes and Thomas P. Hughes (eds) Systems, Experts, and Computers: The Systems Approach in Management and Engineering, World War II and After, pp. 221-54. Cambridge, MA : MIT Press.
10.
Edwards, Paul N. and Schneider, Stephen H. (2001) `Self-Governance and Peer Review in Science-for-Policy: The Case of the IPCC Second Assessment Report' , in Clark A. Miller and Paul N. Edwards (eds) Changing the Atmosphere: Expert Knowledge and Environmental Governance, pp. 219-46. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
11.
Fankhauser, Samuel (1995) Valuing Climate Change: The Economics of the Greenhouse . London: Earthscan.
12.
Jasanoff, Sheila and Wynne, Brian (1998) `Science and Decisionmaking', in Steve Rayner and Elizabeth L. Malone (eds) Human Choice and Climate Change, Vol. 1, pp. 1-87. Columbus, OH: Battelle Press.
13.
Lahsen, Myanna (2005a) `Technocracy, Democracy and US Climate Politics: The Need for Demarcations', Science, Technology and Human Values30(1): 137-69.
14.
Lahsen, Myanna (2005b) `Seductive Simulations: Uncertainty Distribution around Climate Models', Social Studies of Science35(6): 895-922.
15.
Lomborg, Bjørn (2001) The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
16.
Murphy, Raymond (1995) `Sociology as if Nature did not Matter: An Ecological Critique', British Journal of Sociology46(4): 688-707.
17.
Nolin, Jan (1999) `Global Policy and National Research: The International Shaping of Climate Research in Four European Union Countries', Minerva37(2): 125-40.
O'Riordan, Tim and Jordan, Andrew (1999) `Institutions, Climate Change and Cultural Theory: Towards a Common Analytical Framework', Global Environmental Change9(2): 81-94.
20.
Pearce, David W., Cline, W.R., Achanta, A.N., Fankhauser, S., Pachauri, R.K., Tol, R.S.J. and Vellinga, P. (1996) `The Social Costs of Climate Change: Greenhouse Damage the Benefits of Control', in James P.Bruce, Hoesung Lee and Erik F. Haites (eds) Climate Change 1995: Economic and Social Dimensions of Climate Change, pp. 179-224. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
21.
Rayner, Steve and Malone, Elizabeth L. (eds) (1998) Human Choice and Climate Change, 4 vols. Columbus, OH: Battelle Press.
22.
Shackley, Simon (2001) `Epistemic Lifestyles in Climate Change Modeling' , in Clark A.Miller and Paul N. Edwards (eds) Changing the Atmosphere: Expert Knowledge and Environmental Governance, pp. 107-33. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
23.
Shackley, Simon and Wynne, Brian (1995) `Global Climate Change: The Mutual Construction of an Emergent Science-Policy Domain', Science and Public Policy22(4): 218-30.
24.
Shackley, Simon and Wynne, Brian (1996) `Representing Uncertainty in Global Climate Change Science for Policy: Boundary-Ordering Devices and Authority', Science, Technology and Human Values21(3): 275-302.
25.
Shackley, Simon, Risbey, J. and Kandlikar, M. (1998) `Science and the Contested Problem of Climate Change: A Tale of Two Models', Energy and Environment8: 112-34.
26.
Shackley, Simon, Risbey, J., Stone, P. and Wynne, Brian (1999) `Adjusting to Policy Expectations in Climate Change Science: An Interdisciplinary Study of Flux Adjustments in Coupled Atmosphere Ocean General Circulation Models', Climatic Change43: 413-54.
27.
Stern, Nicholas (2007) The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
28.
Sundberg, Mikaela (2005) Making Meteorology: Social Relations and Scientific Practice. Stockholm: Stockholms Universitet.
29.
Trenberth, Kevin E. (1997) `The Use and Abuse of Climate Models', Nature386 (13 March): 131-3.
30.
Van der Sluijs, Jeroen (1997) Anchoring amid Uncertainty: On the Management of Uncertainties in Risk Assessment of Anthropogenic Climate Change. Utrecht: Universiteit Utrecht.
31.
Van der Sluijs, Jeroen, van Eijndhoven, Josée, Shackley, Simon and Wynne, Brian (1998) `Anchoring Devices in Science for Policy: The Case of Consensus around Climate Sensitivity', Social Studies of Science28(2): 291-323.
32.
Yearley, Steven (1991) The Green Case: A Sociology of Environmental Arguments, Issues and Politics. London: Harper Collins.
33.
Yearley, Steven (2005a) Cultures of Environmentalism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
34.
Yearley, Steven (2005b) Making Sense of Science. London : Sage.
