Scientific elites of the climate: Shaping of the field in national and international scale

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the importance of climate sciences and their current conformation, arguing that it is important to return to the theme of scientific elites to understand the current directions of the discussion on climate change. Bourdieu's approach on the subject of the scientific field and the forms of capital accumulation helps to understand changes in meteorological sciences in the face of the most recent challenges of climate change in the last decades. The text analyzes the development of climate sciences on an international scale and the role played by the International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) in the redistribution of established scientific credits in the area. At the end, the text deals with the way the Brazilian elites have been reorganizing themselves to face the international hegemonic sectors which command the research agenda on climate change.