Dana R. Fisher Explained

Dana R. Fisher is an American sociologist, professor of sociology, public speaker, and author. She is the director of the Center for Environment, Community, and Equity and a professor in the School of International Service at American University. Her areas of research and expertise are activism, democracy, the climate crisis, and environmental policy.

Her most recent book is Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action (2024). She is also author of American Resistance: from the Women’s March to the Blue Wave (2019) and Activism Inc.: How the Outsourcing of Grassroots Campaigns Is Strangling Progressive Politics in America (2006).

She is a self-described climate apocalyptic optimist^[1] and co-developed (with Andrew Jorgenson) the framework of AnthroShift to explain how social actors are reconfigured in the aftermath of widespread perceptions and experiences of risk.^[2]

Career

Fisher graduated with an AB in East Asian Studies and Environmental Studies from Princeton University, an MS in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was awarded the Katherine DuPre Lumpkin Award for the best doctoral dissertation in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Prior to her appointment to American University, Fisher's previous faculty positions were at University of Maryland, Columbia University, the Sciences Po, and University of Konstanz. Her Research has been featured in media outlets such as The Washington Post,^[3] The Christian Science Monitor,^{[4] [5]} Chicago Tribune, USA Today, CBS News,^[6] NPR,^[7] the No Jargon podcast of the Scholars Strategy Network,^[8] and in "The Collectors: Political Action," a documentary short by FiveThirtyEight and ESPN Films.^[9]

Fisher was a contributing author on citizen engagement and civic activism for the 2021 Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.^{[10] [11]}

Publications

Books

• Dana R. Fisher. (2024). Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action. New York: Columbia University Press ^[12]
• Dana R. Fisher. (2019). American Resistance: from the Women’s March to the Blue Wave. New York: Columbia University Press
• Dana R. Fisher, Erika S. Svendsen, and James Connolly. (2015). Urban Environmental Stewardship and Civic Engagement: How Planting Trees Strengthens the Roots of Democracy. New York: Routledge.^[13]
• Shamus Khan and Dana R. Fisher. (2013). The Practice of Research: How Social Scientists Answer Their Questions. New York: Oxford University Press.^[14]
• Stewart Lockie, David A. Sonnenfeld, and Dana R. Fisher (editors). (2013). Routledge International Handbook of Social and Environmental Change. New York: Routledge.^[15]
• Dana R. Fisher. (2006). Activism, Inc.: How the Outsourcing of Grassroots Campaigns is Strangling Progressive Politics in America. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.^[16]
• Dana R. Fisher. (2004). National Governance and the Global Climate Change Regime. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.^[17]

Journal articles

• Dana R. Fisher, Joseph Waggle, and Lorien Jasny. (2015). "Not a Snowball's Chance for Science." Contexts. Fall: 44-49.^[18]
• Lorien Jasny, Joseph Waggle, and Dana R. Fisher. (2015). "An Empirical Examination of Echo Chambers in US Climate Policy Networks." Nature Climate Change. 5:782-786.^[19]
• Dana R. Fisher. (2013). "Understanding the relationship between subnational and national climate change politics in the United States: toward a theory of boomerang federalism." . 31:769-784.
• Dana R. Fisher, Joseph Waggle, and Philip Leifeld. (2013). "Where Does Political Polarization Come From? Locating Polarization within the U.S. Climate Change Debate." American Behavioral Scientist. 57(1):70-92.^[20]
• Dana R. Fisher, Philip Leifeld, and Yoko Iwaki. (2013). "Mapping the Ideological Networks of American Climate Politics." Climatic Change. 116:523-545.^[21]
• Dana R. Fisher (2012). "Youth Political Participation: Bridging Activism and Electoral Politics." Annual Review of Sociology. 38:119-137.^[22]
• Dana R. Fisher and Paul-Brian McInerney. (2012). "The Limits of Networks in Social Movement Retention: On Canvassers and Their Careers." Mobilization. 17(2):109-128.^[23]

Book chapters

• Dana R. Fisher and Anya M. Galli. (2015). "Civil Society Engagement in Climate Governance: Between Collaboration and Conflict." Research Handbook on Climate Governance. Karin Bäckstrand and Eva Lövbrand, editors. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 297–309.^[24]

Notes and References

1. https://time.com/6565499/apocalyptic-optimism-climate-change/; Apocalyptic Optimism Could Be the Antidote for Climate Fatalism, (Time Magazine)
2. Ending the Stalemate: Toward a Theory of Anthro-Shift . 10.1177/0735275119888247 . 2019 . Fisher . Dana R. . Jorgenson . Andrew K. . Sociological Theory . 37 . 4 . 342–362 .
3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/americans-dont-worry-much-about-climate-change-poll-says/2015/11/03/fb132c92-825f-11e5-a7ca-6ab6ec20f839_story.html "Americans Don't Worry Much about Climate Change, Poll Says," The Washington Post, November 3, 2015
4. http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1030/p09s01-coop.html "Ending Rot in America's Grassroots," The Christian Science Monitor, October 30, 2006
5. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/1104/40-percent-in-US-believe-climate-change-is-real-are-unworried-video "40 Percent in US Believe Climate Change is Real, Are Unworried," The Christian Science Monitor, November 4, 2015
6. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-most-americans-understand-arent-too-worried-about-climate-change/ "Poll: Most Americans Understand, Aren't Too Worried about Climate Change," CBS News, November 4, 2015
7. http://www.wnyc.org/story/52803-underreported-outsourcing-political-activism/ "The Leonard Lopate Show," WNYC, October 26, 2006
8. http://www.scholarsstrategynetwork.org/no-jargon No Jargon podcast, "Episode 24: Senate Chamber, Echo Chamber," March 8, 2016
9. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/collectors-protests-climate-march-political-action/ "Understanding Why We Take to the Streets," FiveThirtyEight
10. Web site: Dana R. Fisher . Brookings.edu . 19 January 2023 . 24 August 2021.
11. Book: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Annex IV: Contributors to the IPCC WGIII Sixth Assessment Report . 2021 . IPCC . 19 January 2023.
12. https://cup.columbia.edu/book/saving-ourselves/9780231209304 Saving Ourselves. (Columbia University Press)
13. http://www.routledge.com/products/9781138689558 Urban Environmental Stewardship and Civic Engagement: How Planting Trees Strengthens the Roots of Democracy (Routledge)
14. https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/the-practice-of-research-9780199827411;jsessionid=8A0E5C2331C2C95580AEBF16911DC3B8?cc=us&lang=en& The Practice of Research (Oxford University Press)
15. https://www.routledge.com/products/9780415782791 Routledge International Handbook of Social and Environmental Change
16. http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=8743 Activism, Inc. (Stanford University Press)
17. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742530539/National-Governance-and-the-Global-Climate-Change-Regime National Governance and the Global Climate Change Regime
18. https://contexts.org/articles/snowball/ Contexts
19. An empirical examination of echo chambers in US climate policy networks . 10.1038/nclimate2666 . 2015 . Jasny . Lorien . Waggle . Joseph . Fisher . Dana R. . Nature Climate Change . 5 . 8 . 782–786 . 2015NatCC...5..782J .
20. 10.1177/0002764212463360 . Where Does Political Polarization Come From? Locating Polarization within the U.S. Climate Change Debate . 2013 . Fisher . Dana R. . Waggle . Joseph . Leifeld . Philip . American Behavioral Scientist . 57 . 70–92 .
21. Mapping the ideological networks of American climate politics . 10.1007/s10584-012-0512-7 . 2013 . Fisher . Dana R. . Leifeld . Philip . Iwaki . Yoko . Climatic Change . 116 . 3–4 . 523–545 . 2013ClCh..116..523F .
22. Youth Political Participation: Bridging Activism and Electoral Politics . 10.1146/annurev-soc-071811-145439 . 2012 . Fisher . Dana R. . Annual Review of Sociology . 38 . 119–137 .
23. Web site: Mobilization . 2016-03-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150304092116/http://www.mobilization.sdsu.edu/articleabstracts/172FisherMcInerney.html . 2015-03-04 . dead .
24. http://www.e-elgar.com/shop/research-handbook-on-climate-governance Research Handbook on Climate Governance (Edward Elgar Publishing)