Experience of economic hardship and right-wing political orientation hinder climate concern among European young people

Uba, Katrin; Lavizzari, Anna; Portos, Martín

doi:10.1080/14782804.2022.2061433

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 68 publications

(69 reference statements)

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“…The received wisdom has been that the salience of the climate issue for individuals is related to a number of aggregate-level 'objective variables' (Lewis et al, 2019), such as economic affluence (Kim and Wolinsky-Nahmias, 2014), a country's level of vulnerability to climate change, levels of income (Dunlap and York, 2008), unemployment, and the perception that one's economic situation has worsened. In contrast with those expectations, studies have found mixed results and been largely unsupportive of the income-climate concern argument (Lewis et al, 2019;Uba et al, 2021).…”

Section: Social Class and Climate Changementioning

confidence: 88%

“…The control variables in our analysis also yielded some interesting results. We know from existing research that generational variables are important determinants of attitudes toward environment and climate change, with concern regarding those issues particularly strong among young people (Uba et al, 2021). In our study, age was strongly and negatively correlated with confidence in any of the four strategies: that is, younger cohorts reported less confidence than older protesters in all of science, governments, companies and the market, and lifestyle choices to tackle environmental issues (Figure 5), although that effect was not robust in some model specifications.…”

Section: Social Class and Strategies To Address The Climate Crisismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rich kids of Europe? Social basis and strategic choices in the climate activism of Fridays for Future

Porta

Portos

2021

Riv. ital. sci. polit.

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In 2018, Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg began a school strike that quickly spread across the globe. After a ritual strike every Friday by school pupils to call for urgent action against climate change had gone on for several months, what had become Fridays for Future (FFF) called for various global days of action throughout 2019, bringing millions of people out onto the streets in the largest climate protests in world history. Drawing on unique protest survey data on FFF events across European cities in 2019, this article explores the structural bases of organized collective mobilization for climate justice. Nuancing narratives that focus on either the privileged background of climate justice protesters or the environmentalism of the poor, our results show the heterogeneity of the social composition of the protests, suggesting the need for cross-class alliances for mass mobilizations. Moreover, our analysis reveals that the social background of protesters shaped their attitudes regarding what institutions and approaches can be relied upon to tackle climate and environmental challenges. This suggests an important and under-studied connection between social background and the strategic choices of environmental movements.

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Section: Social Class and Climate Changementioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Social Class and Strategies To Address The Climate Crisismentioning

confidence: 99%

Rich kids of Europe? Social basis and strategic choices in the climate activism of Fridays for Future

Porta

Portos

2021

Riv. ital. sci. polit.

Self Cite

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Perceived impacts of the Fridays for Future climate movement on environmental concern and behaviour in Switzerland

Fritz,

Hansmann,

Dalimier

et al. 2023

Sustain Sci

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Calling for increased action on climate change, Fridays for Future (FFF) quickly gained momentum around the world and became highly visible through strikes and protests in more than 150 countries. Considering its scale and magnitude, questions about the impact of this newly emerging climate movement arise. This article is based on a survey investigating the perception of Swiss residents (N = 1206) of how the FFF movement and Greta Thunberg’s climate activism changed their environmental awareness and behaviour. We found that the Swiss public by and large perceives Greta Thunberg and the FFF movement positively, and a considerable share of participants report that Greta Thunberg (30%) and the FFF activism (23%), respectively, positively influenced their environmental concern and behaviour. Structural equation modelling revealed that the strength of the behaviour change motivation depended mainly on how a participant evaluated the FFF movement and Greta Thunberg. The latter was influenced positively by general environmental attitudes, and education level and negatively by the acceptance of justifications for environmentally harmful behaviours. Participants reported environmentally positive changes most frequently in private sphere behaviours, particularly in the domains of mobility, consumption and waste, whereas few changes in public sphere behaviour were reported. Next to increased awareness and motivation gains, also the reinforcement of existing pro-environmental behaviour was reported. Although the influence on sympathisers was stronger, some of those sceptical of the climate strike movement also reported behaviour changes, indicating that the unconvinced have to some extent been reached.

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Value orientations of Italian adolescents: empirical evidence

Bichi

Riniolo

2023

International Review of Sociology

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Experience of economic hardship and right-wing political orientation hinder climate concern among European young people

Abstract: Experience of economic hardship and right-wing political orientation hinder climate concern among European young people.

Cited by 4 publications

References 68 publications

Rich kids of Europe? Social basis and strategic choices in the climate activism of Fridays for Future

Rich kids of Europe? Social basis and strategic choices in the climate activism of Fridays for Future

Perceived impacts of the Fridays for Future climate movement on environmental concern and behaviour in Switzerland

Value orientations of Italian adolescents: empirical evidence

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