Thierry, Aaron; Horn, Laura; von Hellermann, Pauline and Gardner, Charlie. 2023. “No research on a dead planet”: preserving the socio-ecological conditions for academia. Frontiers in Education, 8, 1237076. ISSN 2504-284X [Article]

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Abstract or Description

Despite thousands of higher education institutions (HEIs) having issued Climate Emergency declarations, most academics continue to operate according to ‘business-as-usual’. However, such passivity increases the risk of climate impacts so severe as to threaten the persistence of organized society, and thus HEIs themselves. This paper explores why a maladaptive cognitive-practice gap persists and asks what steps could be taken by members of HEIs to activate the academy. Drawing on insights from climate psychology and sociology, we argue that a process of ‘socially organized denial’ currently exists within universities, leading academics to experience a state of ‘double reality’ that inhibits feelings of accountability and agency, and this is self-reenforcing through the production of ‘pluralistic ignorance.’ We further argue that these processes serve to uphold the cultural hegemony of ‘business-as-usual’ and that this is worsened by the increasing neo-liberalization of modern universities. Escaping these dynamics will require deliberate efforts to break taboos, through frank conversations about what responding to a climate emergency means for universities’ – and individual academics’ – core values and goals.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1237076
Data Access Statement:	The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.
Keywords:	climate change, disavowal, higher education, institutional inertia, neoliberal university, socially organized denial, sustainability
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Anthropology
Dates:	Date Event 19 September 2023 Accepted 6 October 2023 Published
Item ID:	34309
Date Deposited:	06 Nov 2023 13:42
Last Modified:	06 Nov 2023 13:42
Peer Reviewed:	Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/34309

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