A Green fatwā? Climate change as a threat to the
masculinity of industrial modernity
Martin Hultman, Umeå UniversityJonas Anshelm, Linköping University
Climate skeptics as neo-liberal science deniers
• Denial, doubt and apathy (Segnit and Ereaut 2007; Oreskes and Conway 2010)
• Skepticism primarily U.S. and U.K. Conservative movement (McCright and Dunlap, 2003; Carvalho,
2007) • Much less prevalent in Brazil, China, France and India (Painter and Ashe 2012)
• Act of a few influential men (Gelbspan 2004; Leggett 2001; Rampton and Stauber 2001; Lahsen, 2005)
Our method• 3,500 texts, keywords climate change*
• Discourse analysis• 20–30 interconnected formations
• Climate skepticism 200 editorials, opinion articles, political commentary, interviews and signed major feature articles
Almost only men• Liberal think tanks
• Men successful in academia or the corporate world
Stockholmsinitiativet
Arguments• Anthropogenic climate change is false
• IPCC deliberately construct their models “in an alarmist direction”
• Dissenting voices are silenced
• Climate skeptics as Galileo
• Authority strengthened by references to own academic titles
• Eco-fundamentalist• Destroy the industrial modern system
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