On May 30-31, 2008, a workshop on Sociological Perspectives on Global Climate Change was held at NSF in Arlington, Virginia. The workshop was funded by an NSF grant from the Sociology Program to Drs. Joane Nagel, University of Kansas; Jeffrey Broadbent, University of Minnesota; and Thomas Dietz, Michigan State University.

The purpose of the workshop was threefold: identify ways to 1) increase sociology’s capacity to conduct climate change research, 2) motivate research that contributes solutions to a global problem of historical importance, and 3) expand sociological participation in interdisciplinary research and education about global climate change. Workshop participants were asked to answer two questions in their short papers and workshop deliberations: What is the state of sociological research on global climate change? What are the major research questions that sociologists should be asking and seeking to answer about climate change?

The workshop was intended to contribute to advancing sociological research on global climate change, and thus to advancing the research capacity, tools, and infrastructure in the social sciences.