Environment: Critical Social Psychology in the Anthropocene

In this chapter, I provide a brief overview of contemporary understandings of ecological crisis. I then describe how psychology has been co-opted into addressing this crisis, particularly in terms of trying to understand what factors determine more ‘sustainable behaviour’. This is followed by what some may consider a surprising ‘social turn’ in literature concerned with climate change mitigation and adaptation hinted at in our opening quotation. Subsequent sections critically consider the conception of the social therein, before exploring critical currents that might be of interest to critical social psychologists.