Toward a middle‐range theory of environmental morality

Abstract

AbstractNearly three decades ago, Gramling and Freudenburg (1996) urged that greater attention be given to middle‐range efforts in environmental sociology. In this article, I will argue that since Gramling and Freudenburg offered their advice, there has been a critical mass of work in environmental sociology undertaken from the perspective of middle‐range theory, but this has been undervalued in our never‐ending odyssey in search for grand theory. To illustrate this, I review sociological enquiry into risk and risk communication. To make a case of my own for a middle‐range sociology appropriate to the second quartile of the 21st century, I advocate the development of a “sociology of environmental morality” (see Farrell, 2015; Hannigan forthcoming, 2024; Stock, 2020) to be pursued via a middle‐range perspective. I conclude by outlining two strategies for pursuing a middle‐range sociology of environmental morality.