Emily Huddart Kennedy
Research Area
Teaching
Research
Research Topics
Environmental sociology; Cultural sociology; Sustainable and green consumption; Civic engagement; Food; Gender; Qualitative Methods.
Research Interests
My research program is inspired by my curiosity with human-environmental relationships. Within this general area, I use empirical evidence to explore two broad questions. First, what motivates civic engagement in efforts to protect the environment? Second, how do pro-environmental practices reflect and reproduce social differences? I engage these broad questions in the following specific areas, each of which involve multiple research projects.
- Household-level Sustainable Consumption. Over the past decade, I have conducted city-level, province-level, and national-level surveys as well as qualitative interviews to understand Canadian environmental practices. Key themes emerging from these projects include the observation that those who engage most frequently in pro-environmental behaviours (like recycling and buying organic food) have high levels of carbon dioxide emissions, and evidence that more than environmental values, it is our access to green systems of provision (e.g., public transit, curb-side recycling) that explain our commitment to a green lifestyle. I was recently awarded an Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to examine different cultures of environmentalism in Canada and the United States.
- Alternative Food Initiatives. My current research in this area is a collaboration with Josée Johnston and Shyon Baumann (Toronto). Using focus groups and survey data, we are examining the role of meat in our contemporary socio-ecological and political imaginaries.
- Gender, Politics and Social Class in Environmentalism. I have an enduring interest in the ways that pro-environmental beliefs and practices can paradoxically thwart efforts to bridge social divisions and make society more equitable. For instance, my research has shown (1) that the relationship between household-level pro-environmental behaviour and labour force participation/status is different for women than it is for men; (2) that while conservatives tend to undervalue environmental protection compared with liberals, conservatives and liberals place similar value on renewable energy (though for different reasons); and (3) that low environmental impact lifestyles (e.g., living in a small home, not owning a vehicle) are seen as evidence of moral worth—but only for wealthy families, not low-income families.
Together, these projects position me among a group of innovators within environmental sociology examining the reciprocal relationships between culture, gender and class boundaries, and individual-level mainstream environmental protection.
Selected Research Grants
2019-2021 | Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Who cares about the environment? How class and politics are related to environmental beliefs, preferences and impacts. |
2018-2020 | UBC Hampton Research Fund. Measuring environmental beliefs, preferences, and practices. |
2018 | National Science Foundation’s Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences (TESS). Accidental environmentalists: measuring the impact of social class on status awards to green behaviours. |
Publications
Recent Publications
Special Issues
Kennedy, Emily H. and Josée Johnston. 2019. Special Issue of Sociological Perspectives on Civic Responses to Environmental Issues: How Culture Matters. 62(5).
Peer-reviewed Articles
Kennedy, E. H., & Muzzerall, P. (2021). Morality, Emotions, and the Ideal Environmentalist: Toward A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Political Polarization. American Behavioral Scientist, 00027642211056258.
Horne, C., Kennedy, E. H., & Familia, T. (2021). Rooftop solar in the United States: Exploring trust, utility perceptions, and adoption among California homeowners. Energy Research & Social Science, 82, 102308.
Horne, C., & Kennedy, E. H. (2021). Understanding the rebound: normative evaluations of energy use in the United States. Environmental Sociology, 1-9.
Kennedy, E. H., & Horne, C. (2020). Accidental environmentalist or ethical elite? The moral dimensions of environmental impact. Poetics, 82, 101448.
Kennedy, Emily H. and Jennifer Givens. 2019. From powerlessness to eco-habitus: Reconsidering environmental concern as class and identity performance. Sociological Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1177/0731121419836966.
Kennedy, Emily H., Shyon Baumann, and Josée Johnston. 2018. Eating for taste and eating for change: Ethical consumption as a high-status practice. Social Forces. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soy113.
Kennedy, Emily H., and Julie A. Kmec. 2018. Is there an “ideal feeder”? How healthy and eco-friendly consumption choices impact judgments of parents. Agriculture and Human Values. 36(1): 137-151.
Horne, Christine, and Emily H. Kennedy. 2018. Explaining support for renewable energy: Commitments to self-sufficiency and communion. Environmental Politics. DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2018.1517917.
Kennedy, Emily H., Josée Johnston and John R. Parkins. 2018. Small-p politics: How pleasurable, convivial, and pragmatic political ideals influence engagement in eat-local initiatives. British Journal of Sociology. 69(3): 670-690.
Kennedy, Emily H. and Julie A. Kmec. 2018. Reinterpreting the gender gap in household pro-environmental behaviour. Environmental Sociology. 4(3): 299-310.
Kennedy, Emily H., John R. Parkins, and Josée Johnston. 2018. Food activists, consumer strategies, and the democratic imagination: Insights from eat-local movements. Journal of Consumer Culture 18(1): 149-168.