A typology of 360o climate activism

The climate crisis is the great societal struggle of this age. There is an increasing awareness of the various forms, avenues, and methods of activism undertaken to precipitate climate action. From the boardroom activists of Engine No1 to the street activists exemplified by Greta Thunberg, or the increasing awareness of hidden inside activists; different intellectual disciplines understand these activists in different ways. Research is starting to draw out climate activist life-course histories, and evidence the variety of forms and positions that climate activists take throughout their lives and careers to bring pressure to bear towards system change and at times serve as intermediators between different sectors, policy areas and societal actors. The notion of 360o climate activism covers these multiple forms of activism and is emerging as an important area of research focus. This paper seeks to articulate a unified intersectional typology of 360o climate activism based upon theoretic contributions from the social movement theory, the business management literature and public administration literatures. This opens up new questions about the nature of activist life courses, about inside-outside activist cleavages, their direct and subtle role in policy change, mediator practices, and the forces that shape and perpetuate activist cultures. It concludes with a frank accounting of the empirical gaps in the evidence base for this typology and argues for an interdisciplinary research agenda to generate empirical insights, while also enriching the nascent 360o activist theory.