Alison E. Adams

Associate Professor, Community and Environmental Sociology

Alison Adams' research and teaching efforts reflect her interests in the environment and natural resources, social and environmental justice, and grassroots community organizing. She has examined these issues through research on various aspects of environmental social movements, environmental and natural resource conflicts in rural communities, and social equity and community engagement in the context of environmental issues.

Alison uses sociological concepts to examine environmental and social change, particularly as they relate to issues of environmental risk, health and illness, and justice and equity. The research questions that drive this work ask how communities and organizations can challenge patterns of environmental inequality and how citizens democratically participate in environmental decision-making.

Her work has been published in a variety of sociological and social science outlets, including Social Forces, Society & Natural Resources, Mobilization, The Sociological Quarterly, and Agriculture & Human Values. Her current research examines dynamics between communities and extractive industries, community conflict over environmental and natural resource decision making, and environmental justice in the context of pandemic events.

Courses Taught

• Research Interests

  • Environmental Justice
  • Environmental Sociology
  • Social Movements
  • Sociological Theory
  • Community Organizations
  • Qualitative Research Methods

• Education

  • BA, Communication, Ursinus College
  • MS, Agricultural Extension, University of Florida
  • PhD, Sociology, University of Florida

• Publications
  • Adams, Alison E., Thomas E. Shriver, and Landen Longest. 2020. “Symbolizing Destruction: Environmental Activism, Moral Shocks, and the Coal Industry.” Nature and Culture, 15(3): 249–271.
  • Saville, Anne and Alison E. Adams. 2021. “Environmental Justice in the American South: An Intersectional Analysis of Black Women Farmworkers.” Agriculture & Human Values, 38: 193-204.
  • Adams, Alison E., Thomas E. Shriver, Laura Bray, and Chris M. Messer.2020. “Petrochemical Pollution and the Suppression of Environmental Protest.” Sociological Inquiry, 90(3): 646-668.
  • Messer, Chris M., Alison E. Adams, and Thomas E. Shriver. 2019. “Living with Chronic Contamination: A Comparative Analysis of Divergent Psychosocial Impacts.” Natural Hazards, 99(2): 895-911.
  • Monroe, Martha C., Alison E. Adams, and Alison Greenaway. 2019. “Considering Research Paradigms in Environmental Education.” Environmental Education Research, 25(3): 309-313.
  • Saville, Anne and Alison E. Adams. 2019. “Balancing Environmental Remediation, Environmental Justice, and Health Disparities: The Case of Lake Apopka, Florida.” Case Studies in the Environment, https://doi.org/10.1525/cse.2018.001610
  • Adams, Alison E., Thomas E. Shriver, Anne Saville, and Gary Webb. 2018. “Forty Years on the Fenceline: Community, Memory, and Chronic Contamination.” Environmental Sociology, 4(2): 210-220.
  • Jacobson, Ginger L. and Alison E. Adams. 2017. “Understanding Environmental Risk Perceptions: A Case of Contested Illness in South Florida.” Sociological Inquiry, 87(4): 659–684.
  • Adams, Alison E. and Thomas E. Shriver. 2017. “Tactics and Targets: Explaining Shifts in Grassroots Environmental Resistance." Social Currents, 4(3): 265–281.
  • Sanchez, Heather K., Alison E. Adams, and Thomas E. Shriver. 2017. “Confronting Power and Environmental Injustice: Legacy Pollution and the Timber Industry in Southern Mississippi.” Society & Natural Resources, 30(3): 347-361.
  • Adams, Alison E. and Thomas E. Shriver. 2016. “Challenging Extractive Industries: How Political Context and Targets Influence Tactical Choice.” Sociological Perspectives, 59(4): 892-909.
  • Shriver, Thomas E., Alison E. Adams, and Stefano Longo. 2015. “Environmental Threats and Political Opportunities: Citizen Activism in the North Bohemian Coal Basin.” Social Forces, 94(2): 699-722.
  • Adams, Alison E., Thomas E. Shriver, and Chris M. Messer. 2015. "Movement-Countermovement Dynamics in a Land Use Controversy.” Human Ecology Review, 21(1): 3-25.