From reflexivity to anti-reflexivity: climate change polarization in the United States

Climate change is an urgent issue that experts across disciplines and borders have been attempting to bring to the forefront of public discussion for decades. Understanding the socio-political and ideological factors influencing public perspectives on climate change has become critical in modernity, where reflexivity-the vigilance and response to environmental risk-and its counterforce, anti-reflexivity, shape how individuals and institutions react to climate change. There has been little synthesis of the empirical literature on reflexivity and anti-reflexivity regarding American public perceptions of anthropogenic climate change. It is crucial to initiate dialogue among these empirical pursuits. This paper responds to this call by analyzing the empirical literature on reflexivity and anti-reflexivity in relation to perspectives on climate change. This analysis concludes with a conceptual framework and pathways for future research, contributing to the discussion of public attitudes toward climate change in the United States.