Faculty and Staff Profile

Pierce Greenberg

Educational Background

Ph.D. Sociology
Washington State University 2018

M.A. Sociology
Washington State University 2015

B.S. Journalism
Belmont University 2011

Courses Taught

Environmental Sociology
Sport and Society
Social Research Methods II
Spatial Inequality and GIS

Profile

Pierce Greenberg is a sociologist who studies spatial inequality--the question of "who gets what where and why?" His research specifically centers on environmental inequality studies that assess the geographic distribution of environmental risks and benefits. Using geographic analysis and survey methods, his work seeks to determine whether environmental inequality exists and how individuals perceive risks related to environmental hazards. He has also studied other social issues such as vaccine refusal and racial segregation. His research has appeared in American Sociological Review, Social Problems, Environmental Sociology, Rural Sociology, Social Science Research, Energy and Social Science. His ongoing research projects include (1) an geographic analysis of environmental criminal prosecutions in the United States and (2) a data collection effort to improve air quality estimates in rural South Carolina. Prior to joining Clemson, he worked as an assistant professor at Creighton University.

Research Interests

Environmental Sociology, Rural Sociology, Spatial Inequality, GIS, Survey Research Methodology

Research Publications

Greenberg, Pierce, Terence Asitibasi, and Aysha Bodenhamer. 2025. “Coal Communities’ Views on Local Economic Futures: Implications for Energy Transition Policy and Planning.” Energy Policy. 205(October 2025).

Greenberg, Pierce and Robert T. Perdue. 2025. “Pollution and Prisons: A Nationwide Analysis of Carceral Environmental Inequality.” Social Problems. 72(2): 783-801.

Kosakow, Jason and Pierce Greenberg. Forthcoming. “Testing Motivation-Based vs. Social Exchange Communication Strategies in Email Panel Recruitment for an Establishment Survey.” Social Science Computer Review.

Greenberg, Pierce, Sabrina Danielsen, and Ryan Wishart. 2024. “Using Large Scale Location Data to Examine Racial Diversity and Segregation in Church Attendees’ Home Neighborhoods.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 63(4): 1022-1034.(IF: 2.3)

Greenberg, Pierce, Ryan Wishart, and Sabrina Danielsen. 2024. “Driving Environmental Inequality: The Unequal Harms and Benefits of Highway Pollution.” Environmental Sociology. 10(4): 443-456.

Greenberg, Pierce and Don A. Dillman. 2023. “Mail Communications and Survey Response: A Test of Social Exchange vs. Pre-suasion Theory for Improving Response Rates and Data Quality.” Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology. 11(1): 1-22.

Greenberg, Pierce. 2023. “Sites of Ambivalence?: Conflicting Attitudes Towards Coal in Southern West Virginia.” Environmental Justice. 16(1): 19-28.

Downey, Sean, Pierce Greenberg, and Mary Ann Vinton. 2022. “Explaining Resident Attitudes Towards Wind Energy Development in the Sandhills.” Great Plains Research. 32(1): 57-68.

Estep, Kevin and Pierce Greenberg. 2020. “Opting Out: Individualism and Vaccine Refusal in Pockets of Socioeconomic Homogeneity.” American Sociological Review. 85(6): 957-991.

Greenberg, Pierce. 2020. “Risk perceptions and the maintenance of environmental injustice in Appalachia.” Environmental Sociology. 6(1): 54-67.

Katano, Yohei, Pierce Greenberg, and Jon Agnone. 2020. “Traditional or Economic Values? Analyzing Absentee Landowner Attitudes Amid Social and Agricultural Transformation in Japan.” Rural Sociology. 85(3): 683-705.

Greenberg, Pierce and Dylan Bugden. 2019. “Energy consumption boomtowns in the United States: Community responses to a cryptocurrency boom.” Energy Research and Social Science 50 (April 2019): 162-167.

Greenberg, Pierce. 2018. “Coal Waste, Socioeconomic Change, and Environmental Inequality in Appalachia: Implications for a Just Transition in Coal Country.” Society and Natural Resources. 31(9): 995-1011.

Liévanos, Raoul, Pierce Greenberg, and W. Ryan Wishart. 2018. “In the Shadow of Production: Coal Waste Accumulation and Environmental Inequality Formation in Eastern Kentucky.” Social Science Research. 71(March 2018): 37-55.

Greenberg, Pierce. 2017. “Disproportionality and Resource-Based Environmental Inequality: An Analysis of Neighborhood Proximity to Coal Impoundments in Appalachia.” Rural Sociology. 82(1): 149-178.

Greenberg, Pierce. 2016. “Spatial Inequality and Uneven Rural Development: The Local Stratification of Poverty in Appalachia.” Journal of Appalachian Studies. 22(2): 187-209.

Greenberg, Pierce. 2016. “Strengthening Sociological Research Through Public Records Requests.” Social Currents. 3(2): 110-117.

Honors and Awards

2021 - Eliot Friedson Outstanding Publication Award, Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association. (With Kevin Estep)

2020 - The President's Distinguished Curriculum Innovation and Pedagogical Research Grant, Creighton University

2019 - BD2K Data Science Innovation Lab Participant, National Institutes of Health

2018-19 - Anne E. Casey Foundation Rural Poverty Research Fellow

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