Collective Shame in Climate Denial: An Ecopsychological Undertaking

Abstract

Global warming is accelerating, and U.S.-Americans are in denial across a spectrum of denial from literal or outright denial to disavowal. There are likely numerous causes for the broad spectrum of climate denial, but I argue that collective or group shame has a hand in constructing that denial. Group and collective emotions have been researched, but there is a gap in the research. Up to now, in the climate crisis context, primarily collective guilt, not shame, has been researched, and only for how, when induced, it prompts pro-environmental behavior. My purpose here is to begin to fill that gap and extend the current research on group and collective emotions to climate denial using existing evidence that suggests that collective shame (felt and expressed, or denied) constructs climate denial (1) either based on a shared social identity or (2) based on threats to a shared social identity. I also propose that any examination of collective shame in climate denial be done through an ecopsychological lens. Ecopsychology recognizes that humanity is inseparable from nature and exists within nested systems, both natural and human-made, both of which influence social identity. Ecopsychology also inherently considers the structural and the systemic—the ecosystem—in which groups and the collective exist. I conclude by suggesting avenues for further research and clinical considerations.