Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Master of Arts

Program

Theory and Criticism

Supervisor

Schaffer, Scott

Abstract

This thesis examines extinction anxiety as a zeitgeist that manifests through nuclear war anxiety and climate change anxiety. I define extinction anxiety as the cultural mood of anxiousness surrounding extinction threats in the past, present, and future. I use Monika Krause’s sociological conception of zeitgeist to understand these anxieties as a cultural mood. I demonstrate using Jean-Paul Sartre’s conceptualization of materially derived subjectivity, how these moods of anxiousness are internalized through material conditions. I build my concept of extinction anxiety by comparing and contrasting the mood of anxiousness surrounding nuclear war during the Cold War and the current mood of anxiousness surrounding climate change. Due to their similarities, I argue that both historical moods are manifestations of a greater cultural phenomenon: the zeitgeist of extinction anxiety. Further, I examine work on apocalypse by theorists such as Bruno Latour, Gunther Anders, and Srecko Horvat. Using their work, I determine that the mood of apocalypse; the cultural mood surrounding the loss of a future, overlaps with my conceptualization of extinction anxiety. Thus, I bridge my understanding of extinction anxiety in the past (Cold War), present (climate crisis), and future (apocalypse). I conclude that in order to address the effects of extinction anxiety, we must radically transform our orientation to history and the future. Additionally, we must take care to be sensitive to how to educate future generations on the topic of extinction, so that they are equipped to deal with the realities of extinction.

Summary for Lay Audience

As noted by researchers such as Galway and Field, climate change is impairing peoples’ mental well-being (1). To address this, in this thesis, I argue how climate change anxiety is an instance of a greater cultural phenomenon I call extinction anxiety. Rather than examining this anxiousness at the individual level, I believe that more should be done to study it at the cultural level. By comparing and contrasting climate change anxiety to nuclear war anxiety, I show how this mood of anxiousness was established through a historical example. Further, by looking at how theorists of apocalypse write about the loss of future, I can examine how climate change anxiety relates to our feelings of doom and gloom. I conclude that more should be done to reflect on our history and how we think about the future. Further, when educating future generations, we should pay careful attention to their anxiousness about climate change.

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