Turning Back the Rising Sea: Theory performativity in the shift from climate science to popular authority

Action on climate change continues to be hampered by vested interests seeding doubt about science and the need to reduce carbon emissions. Using a qualitative case study of local climate adaptation to sea level rise, we show how climate change science is translated into a self-referential theory focused on property prices. Our analysis develops two mechanisms – enablement and theorization – to explain the relationship between theory...