The effects of ideological value framing and symbolic racism on pro-environmental behavior

Kinga Makovi,Hannah Kasak-Gliboff

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-00329-z

Abstract

Environmental degradation continues to be one of the greatest threats to human well-being, posing a disproportionate burden on communities of color. Environmental action, however, fails to reflect this urgency, leaving social-behavioral research at the frontier of environmental conservation, as well as environmental justice. Broad societal consensus for environmental action is particularly sparse among conservatives. The lack of even small personal sacrifices in favor of the environment could be attributed to the relatively low salience of environmental threats to white Americans and the partisan nature of environmentalism in America. We evaluate if (1) environmental action is causally related to the ideological value framing of an environmental issue; and (2) if the perceived race of impacted communities influences environmental action as a function of racial resentment. With this large-scale, original survey experiment examining the case of air-pollution, we find weak support for the first, but we do not find evidence for the second. We advance our understanding of environmental justice advocacy and environmental inaction in the United States.Protocol registrationThe stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 10 June 2021. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14769558.

Highlights

Environmental degradation continues to be one of the greatest threats to human well-being, posing a disproportionate burden on communities of color
In our experiment respondents with higher symbolic racism scores do not donate significantly lower amounts when they read about a Black family impacted by air-pollution
Ideological alignment with respondents’ political ideology of a text on air pollution did not enhance environmental action, nor did symbolic racism moderate the effect of reading a personal story about a Black family on environmental action

Summary

Introduction

Environmental degradation continues to be one of the greatest threats to human well-being, posing a disproportionate burden on communities of color. We evaluate if (1) environmental action is causally related to the ideological value framing of an environmental issue; and (2) if the perceived race of impacted communities influences environmental action as a function of racial resentment. With this large-scale, original survey experiment examining the case of air-pollution, we find weak support for the first, but we do not find evidence for the second. Social-behavioral research has presented itself as a promising avenue for discovering constructive approaches to achieving environmental action, as well as environmental justice by reducing inequalities in the impact of environmental degradation. In accordance with a small body of literature, we anticipate that racial resentment will stifle environmental action[12, 13], as relatively environmentally privileged white Americans would be less inclined to support a predominantly Black community’s environmental well b eing[10]

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Conclusion