Does socioeconomic status moderate the political divide on climate change? The roles of education, income, and individualism

Ballew, Matthew T.; Pearson, Adam R.; Goldberg, Matthew H.; Rosenthal, Seth A.; Leiserowitz, Anthony

doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.102024

Cited by 102 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…5b). These results are consistent with existing studies that characterize education as a crucial condition for climate change belief in China, but as irrelevant or even counter-productive for inspiring climate change belief in the United States 15,72,73 . Figure 5c indicates that regional effects are most important for correctly predicting climate change belief in the Middle East, Central Asia, and in East Asia.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Country-level conditions like prosperity, democracy, and regulatory culture predict individual climate change belief

Levi

2021

Commun Earth Environ

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Decades after the scientific community agreed on the existence of human-made climate change, substantial parts of the world’s population remain unaware or unconvinced that human activity is responsible for climate change. Belief in human-made climate change continues to vary strongly within and across different countries. Here I analyse data collected by the Gallop World Poll between 2007 and 2010 on individual attitudes across 143 countries, using a random forest model, to show that country-level conditions like environmental protection, civil liberty, and economic development are highly predictive of individual climate change belief. Individual education and internet access, in contrast, are correlated to climate change awareness, but much less to belief in climate change’s anthropogenic causes. I also identify non-linear pattern in which country-level circumstances relate to individual climate change belief. The local importance of most predictors varies strongly across countries, indicating that each country has its relatively unique set of correlates of climate change belief.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Country-level conditions like prosperity, democracy, and regulatory culture predict individual climate change belief

Levi

2021

Commun Earth Environ

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“…Individualism is further associated with political beliefs opposing "Big Government", preferring personal autonomy over governmental interference (Kahan et al, 2011). For example, people with more individualistic worldviews are more likely to oppose vaccinations programs and dismiss climate change prevention policies-despite the scientific evidence that they benefit both individuals and collectivesbecause of the perceived associations with government control (Ballew et al, 2020;Hornsey et al, 2018). Thus, the current research also complements research aimed at understanding opposition to collectively beneficial government policies (see implications below) insomuch as dissatisfaction with one's relationships offers a potential mechanism that may explain how people become more individualistically and populistically oriented over time (Huang et al, 2020;Lüders et al, 2020;Reis, 2012;Torcal, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socially connected and COVID-19 prepared: The influence of sociorelational safety on perceived importance of COVID-19 precautions and trust in government responses

Lamarche

2020

Soc. Psychol. Bull.

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COVID-19 caused unprecedented social disruption the likes of which many people had not seen since the Second World War. In order to stop the spread of the virus, most nations were required to enforce strict social distancing precautions, including orders to shelter in place and national lockdowns. However, worries over whether citizens would become fatigued by precautions that constrain personal liberties made some governments hesitant to enact lockdown and social distancing measures early on in the pandemic. When people feel that their social worlds are responsive to their needs, they become more trusting and more willing to sacrifice on behalf of others. Thus, people may view COVID-19 precautions more positively and be more trusting in government responses to such an event if they are inclined to see their sociorelational world as supporting their connectedness needs. In the current study (N = 300), UK residents who were more satisfied that their close others fulfilled their connectedness needs at the start of the government-mandated lockdown, perceived COVID-19 precautions as more important and more effective than those who were relatively dissatisfied in how their connectedness needs were being met, and reported greater trust in the government’s management of the pandemic. These effects persisted in a follow-up one month later. Implications for how society and governments can benefit from the investment in social connectedness and satisfaction, and future directions are discussed.

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“…That is, through discussion, the person attempting to persuade the other asks their conversation partner to connect themselves to the issue, rather than doing so through a persuasive appeal. When deploying this strategy in service of climate action, this might include probing people about how caring for the natural environment aligns with their religious faith, 18,[32][33][34] racial, ethnic, gender, or socio-economic identity, [35][36][37][38][39][40][41] or any other issue of high personal importance. Another promising approach, as we discuss in the next section, is to encourage people to reflect on their own legacy.…”

Section: Deep Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging Social Science to Generate Lasting Engagement with Climate Change Solutions

2020

Self Cite

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Does socioeconomic status moderate the political divide on climate change? The roles of education, income, and individualism

Cited by 102 publications

References 57 publications

Country-level conditions like prosperity, democracy, and regulatory culture predict individual climate change belief

Country-level conditions like prosperity, democracy, and regulatory culture predict individual climate change belief

Socially connected and COVID-19 prepared: The influence of sociorelational safety on perceived importance of COVID-19 precautions and trust in government responses

Leveraging Social Science to Generate Lasting Engagement with Climate Change Solutions

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