“I have not once heard the word sustainability since working here”: the underrecognized significance of work-related climate cultures

Abstract

This article investigates how the work sphere shapes climate-cultural orientations by looking at the differences in climate-related discourses typically practiced at the workplace. These discourses are based on different normative convictions and result in various practical implications that together form employees’ collective climate-cultural orientations. The occupational context plays a decisive role, as most adults invest large shares of time into their work. Yet, thus far, relevant questions have remained substantially under-researched, as the bulk of social-scientific analyses still focuses on the consumption side of sustainability issues, although the potential impact within the work sphere is much higher than the level of efficacy that individual consumers can exert in the private sphere. Based on seven focus-group discussions with different occupational groups, I present diverging climate-related convictions, underlining that society is currently far from reaching an agreement on the consensus formulated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Fusing Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social space with Kari Marie Norgaard’s observations on the social organization of climate-change denial, the study initially considers the role of different group-specific forms of (not) knowing. Subsequently, it focuses on circulating efficacy expectations and (related) attributions of responsibility to different societal actors. I then show that climate denial is prevalent in all the work spheres I consider, albeit to different degrees, and that it can manifest explicitly or implicitly. Even occupational groups whose work is directly related to climate matters and whose socioeconomic situation would allow for more consistent climate action, report that inconsistent information and norms of individual freedom and flexibility prevent action, fostering implicit denial.

Keywords

• Climate denial
• responsibility
• efficacy
• climate knowledge
• climate cultures
• occupational cultures