Samuel Toscano

Sam is a fully funded PhD student in the Politics department. He graduated from the University of Sussex in 2020 with an MA in Social and Political Thought (Distinction).

His master's research investigated discursive techniques used in corporate environmentalism and greenwashing. Sam studied how green marketing invites consumers to take climate action through their purchases. Using a governmentality perspective allowed him to consider the individualised and de-politicised nature of these practices. Sam was awarded the Gillian Rose Memorial Prize for his work.

Research (Working) Title

Investigating the sustainability communications of corporate climate pacts: governmentality and the (re)structuring of environmental action.

Research Project

Sam's current research focuses on how sustainability communications influence the ways that consumers imagine climate action. This work has a particular focus on corporate climate alliances - groups of companies making joint environmental pledges. Such sustainability communications are often lauded as genuine or dismissed as greenwashing. Applying a Foucauldian governmentality framework to this issue, he proposes developing new ways of theorising corporate environmentalism and its effects.