About

Thomas Shriver is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at NC State University. His research interests encompass environmental sociology, social movements, health and political sociology. He has examined activism and health impacts at the local level, as well as broad national campaigns organized around various environmental concerns. His work has explored the social and environmental impacts of nuclear contamination, petrochemical pollution, lead, and Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Currently, he is engaged in projects related to energy, environment, and social movements in the United States and the Czech Republic. His political sociology research focuses on repression and dissent in authoritarian settings.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Ecology
• Environmental planning
• Law
• Environmental protection
• Business
• Geography
• Sociology
• Environmental science
• Economy
• Environmental health
• Medicine
• Political economy
• Archaeology
• Natural resource economics
• Economics
• Engineering

Selected publications

• The Ecological-Symbolic Perspective and Ontological Security: An Analysis of Lead Contamination

  Society & Natural Resources · 2026-02-01

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• Barriers to Hurricane Recovery in Frontline Communities: Climate Injustice on Florida’s West Coast

  Environmental Justice · 2025-06-04

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  Extant research has established that increasing global temperatures, sea level rise, and an increase in the severity and intensity of extreme weather events have significant implications for vulnerable communities, especially in coastal regions. We add to this body of literature by drawing on the cases of two recent Florida hurricanes to investigate how coastal communities were impacted by these events. In 2022, Hurricane Ian devastated southwest Florida, and less than a year later, Hurricane Idalia ravaged small islands and coastal communities along Florida’s Big Bend. We analyzed a variety of data sources including media coverage following each of the hurricanes, press releases, government reports, and other relevant materials to examine the impacts and recovery efforts in vulnerable communities along the coast in both cases, utilizing a climate justice framework. Results revealed that, in both cases, disparities on Florida’s west coast were not fully met by inequitable aid. Our analysis revealed themes of climate injustices in vulnerable communities, inadequate infrastructure in the face of climate change, as well as significant issues related to flooding and water contamination. We conclude our article by highlighting the need for improved infrastructure and policy to help communities recuperate following inevitable future climate events, as well as by making specific recommendations and suggestions regarding improved disaster preparation and recovery measures.

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• Environmental Risk and Chemical Weapons Disposal: The Case of the U.S. Army’s Chemical Demilitarization Program

  Society & Natural Resources · 2024-12-15

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• Local environmental movements

  Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · 2024-04-03 · 1 citations

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  Local environmental movements are voluntary organizations that focus primarily on community-level campaigns, often centered on issues surrounding toxic contamination, human exposures, and related environmental harms. Local environmental movements have been pervasive throughout the United States since the emergence of broader environmental concerns starting in the 1970s, and they have been bellwethers for national and international movements. This entry will provide a brief overview of the emergence of local environmental movements in the U.S. and a discussion of the differences between local environmental movements and their national counterparts. We focus particularly on local environmental movements that center on environmental health and illness issues stemming from localized environmental hazards and threats, especially in rural communities, industrial areas, and vulnerable urban neighborhoods. We conclude our entry with a discussion of avenues for future research.

  PublisherDOI

• The Impacts of Landscape Loss on Industrial Communities: Solastalgia in Coal Regions

  Social Currents · 2024-08-23 · 3 citations

  articleSenior author

  Extant research has documented how coal industries can have devastating impacts on industrial communities. While much of the sociological research on climate change has focused on issues of environmental sustainability and resilience, comparatively less research has centered around the social and emotional consequences of climate change in the context of industrial areas. To attend to this gap in the literature, we investigate how coal communities grieve lost landscapes and how that grief informs responses to future environmental threats. To do this, we build on and extend recent work that has argued for the sociological relevance of the concept of solastalgia in analyzing how communities cope with the impacts of natural and technological disasters at the local level. The term solastalgia describes the distress communities experience as they lose landscapes they once cherished in the wake of events such as expanding extractive activities. Specifically, we analyzed a coal mining region in the Czech Republic to examine how communities experience solastalgia in regions that have been chronically exploited for industrial energy extraction over time. Our findings revealed how solastalgia within industrial and coal communities can translate across time and generations. We use the term intergenerational solastalgia to capture this community-level phenomenon.

  PublisherDOI

• Critical Environmental Justice and Pandemic Events: Florida Farm Work during COVID-19

  Environmental Justice · 2023-03-10 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  Extant research has well established that exposure to infectious disease can be a significant problem for vulnerable populations that have been deemed “essential” during widespread health crises. We contribute to this growing body of literature by delineating the utility of the critical environmental justice (CEJ) framework for investigating infectious disease in the context of at-risk groups such as farmworker communities. Specifically, we highlight how the four pillars of CEJ are applicable to potential or real exposure to pathogens in farmworkers' living and working spaces, and how responses and support for these essential workers can be shaped by intersectional factors, the “expendability” of farmworkers, and broader state and corporate structural influences. We draw from a case study of Florida farmworker outreach professionals to center the perceptions and experiences of individuals working directly with farmworker communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conclude with a discussion of how our research contributes to the broader understanding of CEJ in the context of widespread health threats, as well as an overview of lessons learned for regulatory and health agencies.

  PublisherDOI

• Folk art, storytelling, and space: Collective memory and pesticide exposure

  Environment and Planning E Nature and Space · 2023-12-11 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  Extant research regarding collective memory has established the importance of examining how socially constructed memories shape group identities, lived experiences, and realities over time. In addition, collective memory scholars have underscored the inextricable and co-shaping linkages between space, place, and collective memory. However, comparatively less is known about how collective memories are constructed and articulated in cases of environmental exposures. We argue that it is important to investigate the ways in which exposed communities preserve their stories and how their collective memories influence efforts to seek redress as well as push for broader social change. We examine a case of historical pesticide exposure and related illnesses and mortality among farmworkers in Central Florida. We ask how exposed communities translate their experiences into a cohesive collective memory, how cultural artifacts preserve their stories in the broader discursive context, and how they utilize various histories as a form of health activism. We draw on data including ten years of farmworker blog entries, in-depth interviews, and media coverage. Our analysis revealed how farmworkers created artifacts representative of their memories of environmental exposures and illnesses, as well as how they translated these experiences into a cohesive collective memory.

  PublisherDOI

• Discursive strategies and activist framing in anti-mining campaigns

  Local Environment · 2023-03-10 · 3 citations

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  A rich body of literature has established the importance of activist framing in environmental controversies. This research suggests that framing and framing contests are nested within broader discursive opportunity structures, which have significant implications for frame resonance and success. While significant research on environmental activism has investigated how activists can fight against new industrial projects, comparatively less is known about how activists can fight against these initiatives in areas that have been historically dependent on extractive industries. We utilise the case of a proposed gold mining project in Western Romania to investigate how environmental activists were able to successfully tap into broader national and international discursive opportunities to forestall the mining efforts in the region. Our data come from in-depth interviews and document analysis. We contribute to this body of research by shedding light on the dynamics surrounding activists’ shifts in framing strategies to reflect changes in discursive opportunity availability.

  PublisherDOI

• Race, Toxic Exposures, and Environmental Health: The Contestation of Lupus among Farmworkers

  Journal of Health and Social Behavior · 2022-11-28 · 11 citations

  articleSenior author

  Extant research has established that low-wage workers of color are at higher risk for occupational exposures. While the medical sociology literature regarding contested illness provides insights into the dynamics surrounding workplace exposures, some environmental illnesses such as lupus have gotten scant analytical attention. This is a significant gap because women of color, who are more likely to hold these high-risk jobs, are disproportionately affected by the disease. We examine a case of pesticide exposure among Black women farmworkers in Florida. We investigate how race and occupation intersect to shape lived experiences with toxics and what role race plays in the process of contesting exposures and illness. Our data include in-depth interviews (N = 36), media coverage, and archival materials. Our findings indicate that race-related factors played an important part in shaping the farmworkers' experiences with exposures, illness, and interaction with elite actors.

  PublisherDOI

• Environmental threats and activism against extractive industries: The case of gold mining in Rosia Montană, Romania

  Journal of Rural Studies · 2022 · 13 citations

  • Political Science
  • Environmental planning
  • Political Science
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Elite Framing of Social Movements

  NSF · $186k · 2014–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Alison E. Adams

  University of Florida

  49 shared

• Chris M. Messer

  Colorado State University Pueblo

  27 shared

• Laura A. Bray

  University of Oklahoma

  10 shared

• Sherry Cable

  10 shared

• Stefano B. Longo

  6 shared

• Adriana Szabo

  Arizona State University

  5 shared

• Landen Longest

  North Carolina State University

  5 shared

• Dennis Kennedy

  4 shared

Labs

• Research and EngagementPI