TY - JOUR
T1 - Social dominance as an ideological barrier to environmental engagement: Qualitative and quantitative insights
AU - Stanley, Samantha K.
AU - Wilson, Marc S.
AU - Milfont, Taciano L.
N1 - Funding Information:
A Victoria University of Wellington School of Psychology research grant awarded to Marc S. Wilson, and a Marsden Fast-Start grant awarded to Taciano L. Milfont from the Royal Society of New Zealand, jointly covered the Study One research costs. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/3
Y1 - 2021/3
N2 - Climate change denial is motivated in part by ideology, with research showing that a greater tolerance of social inequality is consistently linked to lower pro-environmentalism. We report findings from two mixed-methods studies. In Study One, we provide insight into how individuals with varying levels of social dominance orientation discuss environmental issues by analyzing 59 interviews. These analyses revealed that many individuals were concerned about the causes, consequences, and potential solutions to climate change; however, many were also armed with justifications excusing their and others’ inaction on the problem. To establish further how the ideas shared in the interviews related to social dominance, we reworked the ideas into statements for survey-based research in Study Two. Social dominance orientation and its composite dimensions related to most interview-based statements, with those scoring higher on dominance attitudes more opposed to top-down action on climate change, and those more tolerant of inequality more opposed to individual action. We discuss implications for climate change communication.
AB - Climate change denial is motivated in part by ideology, with research showing that a greater tolerance of social inequality is consistently linked to lower pro-environmentalism. We report findings from two mixed-methods studies. In Study One, we provide insight into how individuals with varying levels of social dominance orientation discuss environmental issues by analyzing 59 interviews. These analyses revealed that many individuals were concerned about the causes, consequences, and potential solutions to climate change; however, many were also armed with justifications excusing their and others’ inaction on the problem. To establish further how the ideas shared in the interviews related to social dominance, we reworked the ideas into statements for survey-based research in Study Two. Social dominance orientation and its composite dimensions related to most interview-based statements, with those scoring higher on dominance attitudes more opposed to top-down action on climate change, and those more tolerant of inequality more opposed to individual action. We discuss implications for climate change communication.
KW - Social dominance orientation
KW - Climate change
KW - Environmental attitudes
KW - Mixed-methods
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099849658&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102223
DO - 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102223
M3 - Article
SN - 0959-3780
VL - 67
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Global Environmental Change
JF - Global Environmental Change
M1 - 102223
ER -
