On the social world of climate change, with professor Cosima Rughiniș, PhD, and associate professor Ștefania Matei, PhD

In episode 9 of the SKEPSIS series, professor Cosima Rughiniș, PhD, and associate professor Ștefania Matei, PhD, both teaching staff at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work of the University of Bucharest, propose a sociologic discussion on the social world of climate change, a controversial subject and a highly active research field.

People are interested in discovering the risks that climate change brings for day-to-day life, as well as the solutions they have at hand, both at an individual level and as a group.

Despite a large consensus in the scientific environment, the subject remains strongly disputed at social and political level. As such, what are the roots of this controversy, through a sociological lens? Looking closer, how can we understand the specifics of Romanian society in the social mind-map of climate change?

At individual level, which is the social reality of day-to-day life? Professor Cosima Rughiniș, PhD, explains a series of practices often met in European societies, as well as in capitalist and consumerist ones, among which: plastic use, fast fashion, red meat consumption, as well as transportation by plane or car.

What’s the controversy on climate change all about?

At first glance, the controversy seems to be a difference of opinions, of views on the reality of climate change or, rather, its causes. In fact, sociologically speaking, it is a difference of social realities. For instance, our society is based so profoundly on the consumption of petrol and consumerism that our way of life and how we manage daily life contradicts, without us being aware, the idea of climate change. We are involuntary skeptical trough the way we life, through the social rules of consumption that we internalize. Even if, at national level, we accept the reality and urgency of climate change, society often makes us behave as if climate change and its associated risks are not as important.

Episode no. 9 of the SKEPSIS series is available here.

What does the social world of climate crisis mean? Who does it differ from the contemporary social world we live in?

The world we live in is separated according to geography, and especially according to wealth. The consequences of disasters and climate degradation impacts and will particularly impact the poor, who are less capable to escape from drought or heat waves, less capable to hide and protect themselves.

In real life, each fraction of temperature humanity saves brings a major difference to the impact on our lives and the lives of the future generations. Thus, how can we answer climate change? What is specific to Romania regarding climate change?

Cosima Rughiniș is a professor of the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work of the University of Bucharest. Here, she teaches classes regarding the way in which social classifications contribute to the construction of reality. Her research interests include both aspects that are related to the creation of gender and age representations in the public space, and the shaping of certain cultural models in the most diverse environments, from social software and digital games to graphic novels and school handbooks. More information about professor Cosima Rughiniș are available here.

Launched in October 2023, the SKEPSIS series is a project addressed to the large audience, through which UB researchers analyze, from a sociological viewpoint, the scientific truth and public skepticism concerning some of the most controversial topics of the moment. The series will explore the profound structures which influence our ways of perceiving and acting, when our health, identity or future are at stake.

The guests of this series, meant to explain the evolution of trust and skepticism regarding current subjects, are professors, doctoral students and researchers belonging to the academic community of the University of Bucharest.

The format of the episodes includes the presentation of the theme, followed by a dialogue between a moderator and a guest.

The video content in this section is produced by the Communication and Public Relations Department of the University of Bucharest, and research results are part of the program “SKEPSIS – Fabricating uncertainties regarding vaccination and climate change. Comparative study of legitimacy in two counter-science narratives”, implemented by the University of Bucharest and financed by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization, Romania, PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-1589.

The video on The social world of climate change was filmed at the Botanical Garden of the University of Bucharest.