Profile
Professor Clare Saunders
Professor in Environmental Politics
c.saunders@exeter.ac.uk
01326 259466
Environment and Sustainability Institute 2.33
Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK
Overview
My areas of research expertise are social movements and protest, climate and energy politics, and social networks. I am involved with several interdisciplinary projects, ranging from exploring why protesters take to the streets, to investigating whether local energy saving initiatives can help householders reduce their energy demand. I measure the extent to which a variety of organisations, including industry lobby groups, influence climate change policies.
You can find out more by watching a two-minute video of me explaining my work.
Qualifications
2005 PhD Environmental Social Science (University of Kent)
2000 MSc Integrated Environmental Studies (University of Southampton)
1998 BA in Geography/History (University of Southampton)
Career
2014 Associate Professor, University of Exeter
2013 Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter
2011-2012 Senior Lecturer, University of Southampton
2008-2012 RCUK Academic Fellow, University of Southampton
Research
Research interests
- Social movements and protest (especially those related to environmental issues)
- Social and political networks
- Environmental issues in the media
- Climate and energy politics
- Behaviour change
Research projects
- Comparing climate change policy networks
- Caught in the act of protest: contextualising contestation
- Community based initiatives in energy saving
- Making methods matter: embedding employability, enhancing experience
Publications
Books
Roth S, Saunders C (2023). Organising for Change: Social Change Makers and Social Change Organisations. Bristol, Bristol University Press.
Saunders C (eds)(2021). Re:Fashion. Falmouth, Juniper Bespoke.
Saunders C (eds)(2019). When Citizens Talk About Politics. Routledge. Abstract.
Saunders C (2013). Environmental Networks and Social Movement Theory., Bloomsbury USA. Abstract.
Connelly J, Smith, G, Benson, D, Saunders C (2012). Politics and the Environment: from Theory to Practice, 3rd Edition.
Banya M, Armstrong C, Mason A, McGhee D, McGrew A, Owen D, Saunders C, Smith G, Stoker G (2011). Prospects for Citizenship.
Journal articles
Rainsford E, Saunders C (In Press). Young climate protesters' mobilization availability: Climate marches and school strikes compared. Frontiers in Political Science
Saunders C, Griffin I, Hackney F, Barbieria A, Hill KJ, West J, Willett J (2024). A social practices approach to encourage sustainable clothing choices. Sustainability, 16 Abstract.
Saunders C, Patel D (2024). Diverse voices, sticky maps and wicked patterns. Using creative methods to explore environmental justice. Green Humanities:A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts Abstract.
Saunders C (2024). Grassroots environmentalism. SOCIAL MOVEMENT STUDIES, 23(1), 129-130. Author URL.
Keshavarzi S, Saunders C, Karimi M (2023). Persistent anti-littering activism in a non-Western context: the case of. the Nature Cleaners Movement in Iran. Society & Natural Resources, 36(10), 1181-1199. Abstract.
Dunn A, Saunders C (2023). Unemployed people’s attitudes regarding labour market choices and welfare conditionality. Journal of Social Security Law, 1(1) Abstract.
Garland J, Saunders C, Olcese C, Tedesco D (2022). Anti-fracking campaigns in the United Kingdom: the influence of local opportunity structures on protest. Social Movement Studies, 22(2), 211-231.
Saunders C (2022). How Social Movements (Sometimes) Matter. SOCIOLOGY-THE JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, 56(5), 1048-1050. Author URL.
Willett J, Saunders C, Hackney F, Hill K (2022). The affective economy and fast fashion: Materiality, embodied learning and developing a sensibility for sustainable clothing. Journal of Material Culture, 27(3), 219-237.
Dunn A, Saunders C (2022). ‘The Rise of Mass Poverty’? Breadline Britain/Poverty and Social Exclusion (1983–2012) Evidence Revisited. Social Indicators Research, 164(2):947-947, 947-965.
West J, Saunders C, Willet J (2021). A bottom up approach to slowing fashion: Tailored solutions for consumers. Journal of Cleaner Production, 296
Saunders C, Shlomo N (2021). A new approach to assess the normalization of differential rates of protest participation. Quality and Quantity, 55(1), 79-102.
Saunders C (2021). Preaching to the converted? Who attended the Camborne, Cornwall Corbyn rally in August 2017?. BRITISH POLITICS, 16(4), 375-397. Author URL.
Keenan C, Saunders C, Price S, Hinchliffe S, McDonald R (2020). From Conflict to Bridges: Towards Constructive use of Conflict Frames in the Control of Bovine Tuberculosis. Sociologia Ruralis, 60(2), 482-504.
Hackney F, Saunders C, Willett J, Hill K, Griffin I (2020). Stitching a sensibility for sustainable clothing: Quiet activism, affect and community agency. Journal of Arts and Communities, 35-52.
Roth S, Saunders C (2019). Do gender regimes matter? Gender differences in involvement in anti-austerity protests - a comparison of Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Social Movement Studies, 19(3), 303-324.
Bardsley N, Buechs M, James P, Anastasios P, Thomas R, Saunders C, Graham S, Wallbridge R, Nicholas W (2019). Domestic thermal upgrades, community action and energy saving: a three-year experimental study of prosperous households. Energy Policy, 127, 475-485.
Roth S, Saunders C (2019). Gender Differences in Political Participation: Comparing Street Demonstrators in Sweden and the United Kingdom. Sociology, 53(3), 571-589. Abstract.
Saunders C, Jennings W (2019). Street Demonstrations and the Media Agenda: an Analysis of the Dynamics of Protest Agenda-Setting. Comparative Political Studies, 52, 2283-2313.
Saunders C, Grasso MT, Hedges C (2018). Attention to climate change in British newspapers in three attention cycles (1997–2017). Geoforum, 94, 94-102. Abstract.
Price S, Saunders C, Hinchliffe S, McDonald RA (2017). From contradiction to contrast in a countryside conflict: Using Q Methodology to reveal a diplomatic space for doing TB differently. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 49(11), 2578-2594. Abstract.
Broadbent J, Sonnett J, Botetzagias I, Carson M, Carvalho A, Chien Y-J, Edling C, Fisher D, Giouzepas G, Haluza-DeLay R, et al (2016). Conflicting Climate Change Frames in a Global Field of Media Discourse. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, 2, 237802311667066-237802311667066. Abstract.
Saunders C (2016). the future of social movements and social movement research in a globalizing world. EUROPEAN POLITICAL SCIENCE, 15(1), 143-146. Author URL.
Büchs M, Saunders C, Wallbridge R, Smith G, Bardsley N (2015). Identifying and explaining framing strategies of low carbon lifestyle movement organisations. Global Environmental Change, 35, 307-315. Abstract.
Saunders C (2015). Not to mock modes of coordination (moc), but to raise important questions about their measurement. Partecipazione e Conflitto, 8(3), 896-904.
Caiani M, Bassoli M, Saunders C, Crossley N, Pavan E, De Fazio G, Nicholls WJ (2015). The Cement of Civil Society: Studying Networks in Localities. PARTECIPAZIONE E CONFLITTO, 8(3), 876-931. Author URL.
Saunders C (2014). Anti-politics in action? Exposing measurement dilemmas in the study of unconventional political participation. Political Research Quarterly, 67(3), 574-588.
Saunders C, Büchs M, Papafragkou A, Wallbridge R, Smith G (2014). Beyond the Activist Ghetto: a Deductive Blockmodelling Approach to Understanding the Relationship between Contact with Environmental Organisations and Public Attitudes and Behaviour. Social Movement Studies, 13(1), 158-177. Abstract.
Olcese C, Saunders C, Tzavidas N (2014). In the streets with a degree: How political generations, educational attainment and student status affect engagement in protest politics. International Sociology, 6(29), 525-545.
Roth S, Saunders C, Olcese C (2014). Occupy as a free space: Mobilization processes and outcomes. Sociological Research Online: an electronic journal, 1(19).
Saunders C (2014). Protest, Inc. The corporatization of activism. ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS, 23(6), 1115-1117. Author URL.
Waddell P, Millard D, Saunders C (2014). Stop G8 - an ethnographic account of web use in global justice activism. WebSci 2014 - Proceedings of the 2014 ACM Web Science Conference, 269-270. Abstract.
Dunn A, Grasso M, Saunders C (2014). Unemployment and attitudes to work: Asking the "right" question. Work, Employment and Society, 28(6), 904-925.
Saunders C, Büchs M, Papafragkou A, Wallbridge R, Smith G (2013). Beyond the activist ghetto: a deductive blockmodeling approach to understanding the relationship between contact with environmental organisations and public attitudes and behaviour. SMS, 1(13), 158-177. Abstract.
Ryan M, Saunders C, Rainsford E, Thompson E (2013). Improving research methods teaching and learning in politics and international relations: a reality show approach. Politics, 1(34), 85-97.
Saunders C (2013). Insiders, thresholders and outsiders in West European global justice networks: Network positions and modes of coordination. European Political Science Review, 2(6), 167-189. Abstract.
Clifford D, Geyne-Rajme F, Smith G, Edwards R, Büchs M, Saunders C (2013). Mapping the environmental third sector in england: a distinctive field of activity?. Voluntary Sector Review, 4(2), 241-264.
Saunders C, Grasso M, Olcese C, Rainsford E, Rootes C (2012). Explaining differential protest participation: Novices, returners, repeaters and stalwarts. Mobilization: an international journal, 17(3), 263-280. Abstract.
Saunders C (2012). Reformism and radicalism in the Climate Camp in Britain: Benign coexistence, tensions and prospects for bridging. Environmental Politics, 21(5), 829-846. Abstract.
Saunders C, Gillespie T, Paternotte D, Lambert N, Achino E, Funnell S (2011). Book Reviews. Social Movement Studies, 10(1), 119-130.
Saunders C (2011). Unblocking the path to effective block modeling in social movement research. Mobilization: an international journal, 16(3), 283-302. Abstract.
Saunders C, Price S (2009). One person's eu-topia, another's hell: Climate Camp as a heterotopia. Environmental Politics, 18(1), 117-122.
Saunders C (2008). Double edged swords: Collective identity and solidarity in the environment movement. British Journal of Sociology, 59(2), 227-253.
Saunders C (2008). It's not just structural: Social movements are not homogenous responses to structural features, but networks shaped by organisational strategies and status. Sociological Research Online, 14(1). Abstract.
Saunders C (2008). The stop climate Chaos coalition: Climate change as a development issue. Third World Quarterly, 29(8), 1509-1526. Abstract.
Saunders C (2007). Comparing Environmental Movements in Periods of Latency and Visibility. Graduate Journal of Social Science, 1(4), 109-139.
Saunders C (2007). The national and the local: Relationships among environmental movement organisations in London. Environmental Politics, 16(5), 742-764. Abstract.
Saunders C (2007). Using social network analysis to explore social movements: a relational approach. Social Movement Studies: journal of social, cultural and political protest, 3(6), 227-243.
Chapters
Saunders C (2024). Environmental movements and environmental political theory in the Anthropocene. In Wissenburg M, Luke V, Amanda M (Eds.) Edward Elgar Handbook of Environmental Political Theory in the Anthropocene, Edward Elgar.
Saunders C (2024). UK environment and climate change politics. In Willett J, Giovannini A (Eds.) An Introduction to UK Politics: Place, Pluralism and Identities, London: Sage, 271-289. Abstract.
Saunders C, Rainsford E (2024). Using surveys to study demonstrators. In Cox L, Szolucha A, Lozano A, Chattopadhyay S (Eds.) Edward Elgar Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Social Movements, Edward Elgar.
Saunders C (2022). Contentious politics: Politics as claims-making. In (Ed) The Routledge Handbook of Social Change, 315-325.
Saunders C (2022). Environment and climate. In Anghel V, Jones E (Eds.) Developments in European Politics 3, Red Globe Press.
Roth S, Saunders C (2022). Micro-level effects of political participation. In Giugni M, Grasso M (Eds.) Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior, Oxford University Press.
Saunders C (2022). Social networks and recruitment. In Guigni M, Grasso M (Eds.) Routledge Handbook of Environmental Movements, London: Routledge.
Hackney F, Saunders C, Hill K, Willett J (2021). Changing the world not just our wardrobes: a sensibility for sustainable clothing, care and quiet activism. In Veronica M (Ed) Routledge Fashion Companion.
Doherty B, Saunders C (2021). Global Climate Strike protests and media coverage of the protests in Truro and Manchester. In Mesinas AM, Pickard S, Bessant J (Eds.) When Students Protest, London: Rowman and Littlefield.
Saunders C (2020). Climate change protesters in Britain: Political ecologists, or something else?. In Prendiville B, Haigron D (Eds.) Political Ecology in Britain, Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 65-88.
Saunders C, Bert K (2019). Anti-politics Statements in Fast Thinking: What Comes to Mind First When Thinking About Politics. In Saunders C, Klandermans B (Eds.) When Citizens Talk About Politics, Routledge.
Saunders C (2019). Conclusion: How Citizens Talk About Electoral and Protest Politics, a Cross-Country Comparison. In Saunders C, Klandermans B (Eds.) When Citizens Talk About Politics, Routledge.
Price S, Saunders C (2019). Discussing Politics in the UK: Non-Violence, Representativeness, Consistency and Fairness and Constitutional Values. In Saunders C, Klandermans B (Eds.) When Citizens Talk About Politics, Routledge.
Saunders C, Klandermans B, Price S, Garyfallou A, Hutter S (2019). Introduction: When Citizens Talk About Politics: Towards an Analytical Framework. In Saunders C, Klandermans B (Eds.) When Citizens Talk About Politics, Routledge.
van Bezouw MJ, Garyfallou A, Oană I-E, Rojon S, Saunders C (2019). Methodological Appendix. In Saunders C, Klandermans B (Eds.) , Routledge.
Saunders C, Roth S (2019). NGOs and Social Movement Theory. In Davies T (Ed) Routledge Handbook of NGOs and International Relations, Routledge.
Saunders C, Roth S (2019). NGOs and social movement theory. In (Ed) Routledge Handbook of NGOs and International Relations, Taylor & Francis, 138-152.
Saunders C, della Porta D, Andretta M (2017). Globalization and Social Movements. In Snow D (Ed) The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Social Movements.
Saunders C, Büchs M, Papafragkou A, Wallbridge R, Smith G (2016). Beyond the activist ghetto: a deductive blockmodelling approach to understanding the relationship between contact with environmental organisations and public attitudes and behaviour. In (Ed) Social Networks and Social Movements: Contentious Connections, 158-177. Abstract.
Saunders C, Roth S, Olcese C (2015). Are we really “all in it together?”: Anti-austerity protests in Britain. In Guigni M, Grasso M (Eds.) Austerity and Protest: Popular Contention in Times of Economic Crisis, Routledge, 171-191.
Saunders C, Kemp S, Kendall J, Warren A, Wright L, Canning J, Grace M (2015). Global consensus is a dream but Twitter is real: Simulating a development goals summit through interdisciplinary classroom politics and negotiation by social media. In Leal Filho W, Brandli L, Kuznetsova O, Paco A (Eds.) Integrative Approaches to Sustainable Development at University Level, Springer, 551-566.
Saunders C (2015). The challenges of using survey instruments to measure the identities of green protesters’. In Jasper J, McGarry A (Eds.) The Identity Dilemma, Temple University Press, 85-107.
Olcese C, Saunders C (2014). British students in the winter protests: Still a new social movement?. In (Ed) Higher Education in the UK and the US: Converging University Models in a Global Academic World?, 250-271.
Olcese C, Saunders C (2014). Students in the winter protests: Still a new social movement?. In (Ed) Higher Education in the UK and the US: Converging Models in a Global Academic World?, Leiden: Brill Publishers.
Saunders C, Dunn A, Grasso M (2014). Who agrees that “having almost any job is better than being unemployed?. In Dunn A (Ed) Rethinking Unemployment and the Work Ethic: Beyond the ‘Quasi-Titmuss' Paradigm, Palgrave MacMillan, 114-147.
Saunders C (2013). Activism. In Snow DA, della Porta D, Klandermans B, McAdam D (Eds.) Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements, Wiley.
Saunders C (2013). Friends of the Earth. In Snow DA, della Porta D, Klandermans B, McAdam D (Eds.) Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements.
Price S, Saunders C, Olcese C (2013). Movements. In (Ed) Critical Environmental Politics, Routledge, 165-174.
Saunders C, Rootes C (2013). Participation in global justice movement organisations. In (Ed) Meeting Democracy, 72-96.
Saunders C, Papafragkou T (2012). Dropping the debt? British anti-debt campaigns and international development policy. In Utting P, Pianta M, Ellersiek A (Eds.) Global justice activism and policy reform in Europe: Understanding when change happens, London: Routledge, 213-234.
Saunders C, Rootes C (2011). Patterns of participation. In (Ed) Meeting Democracy: Power and Deliberation in Global Justice Movements, 72-96. Abstract.
Milns S, Rootes C, Saunders C, Swaine G (2010). The European Court of Human Rights in the United Kingdom - litigation, rights protection and minorities. In Aaagnostou D, Psychogiopoulou E (Eds.) The European Court of Human Rights and protection of the Marginalized, Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 183-208.
Saunders C (2009). British humanitarian, aid and development NGOs, 1949-present. In (Ed) NGOs in Contemporary Britain: Non-state Actors in Society and Politics since 1945, 38-58.
Saunders C (2009). Organizational resources and democratic conceptions: is big or small beautiful?. In (Ed) Democracy in Movements: Conceptions and Practices of Democracy in Contemporary Social Movements, London: Palgrave MacMillan, 150-170.
Saunders C (2009). Organizational size and democratic practices: can large be beautiful?. In (Ed) Democracy in Social Movements, 150-170.
Millns S, Rootes C, Saunders C, Swain G (2009). The European court of human rights in the UK: Litigation, rights protection and minorities. In (Ed) The European Court of Human Rights and the Rights of Marginalised Individuals and Minorities in National Context, 183-207.
Saunders C, Andretta M (2009). The organizational dimension: How organizational formality, voice, and influence affect mobilization and participation. In (Ed) Another Europe: Conceptions and practices of democracy in the European Social Forums, 128-148.
Saunders C (2008). British humanitarian, aid and development organizations 1945-2007. In Hilton M, Crowson M, McKay J (Eds.) NGOs in Contemporary Britain: Non-state Actors in Politics Since 1945, Palgrave, 38-58.
Saunders C, Andretta M (2008). The organizational dimension: the effect of organizational formality, voice and influence on mobilization and participation in the global justice movement. In della Porta D (Ed) Another Europe is Possible: Conceptions and Practices of Democracy in the European Social Forum, London: Routledge, 128-148.
Rootes C, Saunders C (2007). Le développement du mouvement pour une justice globale en Grande-Bretange. In Sommier I, Agrikoliansky E, Fillieule O (Eds.) La généalogie des mouvements anti-globalisation en Europe. Une perspective comparée, Paris: Karthala, 67-86.
Rootes C, Saunders C (2007). The Global Justice Movement in Great Britain. In Della Porta D (Ed) The Global Justice Movement: Cross-national and Transnational Perspectives, Boulder, USA: Boulder, Paradigm Publishers, 128-156.