Wed, March 14, 2018 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM LIU INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL ISSUES. Free. Join us at this talk, "A Sociological Perspective on the Carbon Market: the Carbons, the Meanings, and the Policy Network", with John Chung-En Liu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology, Occidental College. Light refreshments offered.
Location: Liu Institute for Global Issues - Caseroom
Please RSVP on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/a-sociological-perspective-on-the-carbon-mar...
About his talk: The carbon market, or known as cap and trade, has become the most prominent policy tool to address climate change. According to the World Bank, more than 60 countries and regions in the world adopt some types of carbon market. In this talk, I draw from my recent and ongoing research projects to demonstrate how sociology can enhance our understanding of such policy. I hope to illustrate three key points. Firstly, our ability to build carbon markets is constrained by the materiality of the carbon molecules. Secondly, despite carbons can be "standardized" in the market, their social meanings determine how we assign values to them. Finally, the presentation will highlight the role of policy constituencies in the spread of this policy tool. The talk will end with a reflection on the roles that sociology can play in climate policy research.
Bio: John Chung-En Liu is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and an affiliated faculty in the Department of East Asian Studies at Occidental College. Before joining Oxy, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School.
He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2015, and also holds a joint master’s degree from the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and the international and development economics program at Yale University. Before his career as a social scientist, he obtained his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at National Taiwan University.
This event is hosted by the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs.