Talking past each other? Cultural framing of skeptical and convinced logics in the climate change debate

A research seminar for graduate students, faculty and other interested individuals presented by Dr. Hoffman.

This presentation analyzes the extent to which two institutional logics around climate change – the climate change “convinced” and the climate change “skeptical” logics – are truly competing or talking past each other in a way that can be described as a logic schism. Drawing on the concept of framing from social movement theory, Dr. Hoffman uses qualitative field observations from the largest climate deniers conference in the United States and a data set of almost 800 op-eds from major news outlets over a 2-year period to examine how convinced and skeptical arguments of opposing logics employ frames and issue categories to make arguments about climate change. His work finds that the two logics are engaging in different debates on similar issues with the former focusing on solutions while the latter debates the definition of the problem. He concludes that the debate appears to be reaching a level of polarization where one might begin to question whether meaningful dialogue and problem solving has become unavailable to participants. The implications of such a logic schism is a shift from an integrative debate focused on addressing interests, to a distributive battle over concessionary agreements with each side pursuing its goals by demonizing the other. Avoiding such an outcome requires the activation of, as yet, dormant “broker” categories (technology, religion, and national security), the redefinition of existing ones (science, economics, risk, ideology), and the engagement of effective “climate brokers” to deliver them.

Andy Hoffman is Holcim Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan; a position that holds joint appointments at the School of Business and the School of Natural Resources & Environment. He also serves as Director of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise. Professor Hoffman's research uses a sociological perspective to understand the cultural and institutional aspects of environmental issues for organizations. In particular, he focuses on the processes by which environmental issues both emerge and evolve as social, political and managerial issues. He has written extensively about: the evolving nature of field level pressures related to environmental issues; the corporate responses that have emerged as a result of those pressures, particularly around the issue of climate change; the interconnected networks among non-governmental organizations and corporations and how those networks influence change processes within cultural and institutional systems; the social and psychological barriers to these change processes; and the underlying cultural values that are engaged when these barriers are overcome. He has published over ninety articles as well as nine books, which have been translated into five languages.