Climate Change in the Era of the Anthropocene - an Institutional Analysis

Abstract

Recently, many geoscientists have re-conceptualized and re-labelled our current Holocene Era as “the Anthropocene,” a less stable era with biophysical characteristics and processes strongly influenced by human activity. Yet much of the contemporary research done in organizations and the natural environmental (OandNE) theory is around climate change, which is but one of nine inter-connected “planetary boundaries” that mark this new geological epoch. With the goal of aligning institutional theory to address the deeper cultural and ideological issues of the Anthropocene, we examine this disjuncture between climate change and Anthropocene research and offer suggestions for realignment. Of particular interest to this paper is the exploration of (1) field level constituencies that have engaged, not only on climate change, but also on the other domains of the Anthropocene, and (2) the forms of discourse, meaning and framing that take place within each logic community. Empirically, we draw on systematically collected discourse data and consider specific institutional case examples of the ways in which the Anthropocene, in part or in whole, has, is or is not being engaged by various constituencies.