The Missing Nexus: Taking Meritocracy Beliefs Seriously in Climate Justice Research

This paper addresses a gap in the climate justice literature by focusing on the understudied relationship between meritocratic orientations and public perceptions of justice in the context of the climate crisis. As climate change exacerbates social and economic inequalities, meritocratic beliefs – which attribute success to individual effort and reject redistributive policies – fuel resistance to climate policies. Despite the fact that they are widespread, particularly among the middle class, these beliefs have not been systematically integrated into environmental and climate justice frameworks. The article proposes an interdisciplinary exchange between climate justice research and sociological research on inequality beliefs. It suggests that the dynamic relationship between redistribution and recognition needs to be empirically addressed in light of the decade-long growth of global economic inequalities and the polarization of skills and life chances. Discussing relevant sociological insights on meritocratic orientations, it identifies two key areas where this conversation can take place: the literature on just transition as well as research on attitudes to climate policies. Both offer valuable opportunities for engaging with meritocratic beliefs and their impact on societal responses to necessary green transformations. The goal of my contribution is to demonstrate, specifically, why the cultural study of inequality beliefs is important for understanding popular notions of justice in the context of the climate crisis. We should foster this dialogue also because it can improve our understanding of the resistance to green transformation projects – to varied forms of climate skepticism, denialism, as well as ignorance – to climate policies as state-led programs of mitigation and adaption.