Thomas Shriver
Bio
Tom Shriver’s research expertise is at the intersection of environmental sociology and the study of social movements. His ongoing environmental research builds upon and extends theoretical work on environmental activism, environmental justice and health, and hazards and risk. Tom’s work has examined activism and health impacts at the local level, as well as broad national campaigns organized around a variety of environmental concerns. He has explored the social and environmental impacts of nuclear contamination, petrochemical pollution, lead, and Per- and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS), to name a few. He is currently working on several projects related to energy, environment, and social movements, including research on coal and climate change in the North Bohemian Coal Mining Basin of the Czech Republic. He is also working on a collaborative project investigating grassroots mobilization and quiescence surrounding the conflict over chemical weapons disposal throughout the United States.
In the context of social and political movements, his work explores the dynamics of repression and dissent, where he has studied state social control, quiescence, labor protests, and human rights activism. These projects have examined the role of legal and extralegal repression, as well as elite cultural work and discursive obstruction campaigns in response to popular rebellion in Communist and post-Communist Eastern Europe. His current research in this area focuses on human rights activism in a variety of authoritarian settings, specifically investigating how networks of dissidents navigate political opportunities and threats in highly repressive contexts.
Funded Research
Shriver, Thomas E. (PI). 2014-2017. “Elite Framing of Social Movements.” National Science Foundation, $186,449.
Education
B.A. Sociology Western Kentucky University
M.A. Sociology University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Ph.D. Sociology University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Area(s) of Expertise
Environmental Sociology, Social Movements, Environmental Justice, Sociology of Health and Illness, Political Sociology, Inequality
Publications
- Critical Environmental Justice and Pandemic Events: Florida Farm Work during COVID-19 , Environmental Justice (2023)
- Discursive strategies and activist framing in anti-mining campaigns , Local Environment (2023)
- Folk art, storytelling, and space: Collective memory and pesticide exposure , ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING E-NATURE AND SPACE (2023)
- Race, Toxic Exposures, and Environmental Health: The Contestation of Lupus among Farmworkers , Journal of Health and Social Behavior (2023)
- Agrochemical Exposure & Environmental Illness: Legal Repression of Latin American Banana Workers , SOCIOLOGICAL QUARTERLY (2022)
- Barriers to women's collective identity formation in contaminated communities , ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY (2022)
- Environmental threats and activism against extractive industries: The case of gold mining in Rosia Montana, Romania , JOURNAL OF RURAL STUDIES (2022)
- Cultivating quiescence in risk communities: coal ash contamination and cancer in two cities , Environmental Politics (2021)
- Emerging contaminants, coerced ignorance and environmental health concerns: The case of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) , SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH & ILLNESS (2021)
- Human Rights and Dissent in Hybrid Environments: The Impact of Shifting Rights Regimes , The Sociological Quarterly (2021)