Photo courtesy of Aaron McCright
Aaron M. McCright, Ph.D.
Dr. McCright is Professor and Chairperson in the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. His scholarly research agenda aims to enhance our sociological understanding of how scientific and technological developments, top-down and bottom-up political processes, and enduring social structures influence societal capacity for recognizing and dealing with environmental impacts and technological risks. Employing a range of methods and analytical techniques, Dr. McCright explains the structure, strategy, tactics, and impacts of the US-based climate change denial countermovement; analyzes theoretically relevant patterns and trends in citizens’ climate change views; develops and tests theoretical arguments about selected predictors of environmental decision-making more generally; and investigates key predictors of public views of science and scientists. In addition to two books, ten chapters in edited volumes, and three brief reports, he has published over 70 articles in such scholarly journals as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; Nature Climate Change; Nature Energy; Global Environmental Change; Climatic Change; Preventive Medicine; Energy Research & Social Science; Energy Policy; Risk Analysis; Environment & Behavior; Environmental Politics; Social Problems; and Public Opinion Quarterly. Dr. McCright was named a 2007 Kavli Frontiers Fellow in the National Academy of Sciences, he served as a 2008-2009 Lilly Teaching Fellow at MSU, and he received the 2009 Teacher-Scholar Award and the 2009 Curricular Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Award at MSU. In 2014, he received the Larry T. Reynolds Award for Outstanding Teaching of Sociology from the Michigan Sociological Association.