Critical empowerment: Awareness of the structural roots of climate change and fostering transformational solutions

Climate change and democratic erosion are interconnected crises that threaten humanity’s future. Climate change, driven by fossil-fuel–based economic systems, both contributes to and is exacerbated by the weakening of democratic institutions. Despite the systemic nature of these crises, dominant psychological and policy approaches often overemphasize individual behavior change, obscuring the role of structural influences. This chapter argues that responsibility for addressing climate change and democratic erosion must be understood in relation to policymakers, corporations, global systems, and ideologies that shape collective outcomes. We propose that citizens’ primary responsibility lies in collective empowerment, shifting shared beliefs, and fostering alternative social, political, and economic arrangements. Drawing on social psychological theory and research, the chapter provides an accessible and practical framework for understanding system-level change, highlighting how structural awareness and a sense of empowerment via prefigurative acts can support transformative responses to the climate crisis, even in increasingly undemocratic contexts.