Social Compass
International Journal on the Sociology of Religion
Call for Papers
Special Issue on
“Climate Change and Energy Transitions:
Religious Environmental Concern".
(Scheduled for publication in Volume 62, Nº3, September 2015)
The journal is pleased to announce a Call for Papers for its special issue on “Climate Change and Energy Transitions: Religious Environmental Concern”. The journal invites high-quality manuscripts that explore empirical or practical issues from a sociological point of view relating to religious concerns toward climate change and environmental policies, especially those implemented to advance in the energy transition toward a low carbon economy.
Guest Editor: Dr Cristian Parker G. Senior Professor, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Santiago de Chile, Román Diaz 89, Providencia, Santiago de Chile, Email: cristian.parker
Purpose and scope
Alliance of religion and ecology along with a new global ethics around the planet have been studied. This is especially true regarding churches and theological movements and ecology. But sociological approaches have just begun to explore the relationship between the religious conscience of the faithful and environmental issues.
There is a growing attention in climate change and environmental degradation. It is a major concern of the international agenda and local governments have established environmental policies toward mitigation and adaptation to climate change including energy efficiency and transition to renewable sources. How are popular religions interacting with this agenda? How are religious worldviews, beliefs and practices integrating the ‘environmental fact’ and interacting with socio-environmental changes?
How are religions acting within environmental governance? Do religions of the faithful favor changes toward an eco-development?
We invite submissions on research into this subject involving bottom up perspectives, including living religion, environmental concern, lifestyles, everyday living practices with nature, energy policies and socio-environmental and political changes toward a more sustainable society.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Religion and environmental crisis in poll & recent research.
• World religions and the everyday life: do they promote environmental friendly lifestyles?
• Religious concern about energy transitions to more efficient and renewable energies.
• Environmental challenges in various continental experiences and their relationship with religions?
• Social change theory and religious environmental concerns
• Popular religious practices and beliefs, climate change impacts and policies.
• Religions at grassroots levels and socio-environmental conflicts focused on Third World countries.
• Religion as a driver of change towards a real sustainable society.
International studies involving collaborative approaches and especially studies in Latin America, Africa and Asia are particularly welcomed.
Submission guidelines:
Please submit your electronic abstract (max 3 pages) of the proposed paper by September 1th, 2014 to the guest editor (cristian.parker; cparkerg ) who will advise on the suitability of the paper for the Special Issue. Abstracts must clearly state the paper objectives, issues, methods, findings, application of results, and conclusions. They must clearly state in which language, English or French the paper will be submited. A short list of references is required. Authors whose submissions are accepted will be requested to submit a full paper to the guest editor by October 15th , 2014 for peer-review. Papers must be no longer than 43.000 characters (all characters and parts of the article included), about 6600 words. Only four full articles will be published in this Special Issue.
Copyright: The articles must not have been published. They cannot be submitted to another journal at the same time that they are submitted to Social Compass.
The articles have to be written either in English or in French. If a translation is needed, it is imperative that the translator is a native speaker (in French if the article is published in French or in English if the article is published in English). You must count that there will be a linguistic balance of the issue.
Electronic submissions should be sent as email attachments in .doc or .docx and RTF format. Work submitted for potential inclusion in this Special Issue must be a complete manuscript that adheres to Social Compass’ submission requirements, which are found on the journal’s website: https://scp.sagepub.com/. Papers that don’t follow these requirements will not be accepted.
Deadline for the submission of abstracts is September 1st, 2014.
Deadline for submission of full papers is October 15th, 2014.