The Promoting Effect of Religiosity on Environmental Concern Among Political Conservatives in a Global Context

• In Event: 2251 - Section on Environmental Sociology Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 5. Environmental Attitudes and Perceptions 1

Abstract

This article studies the relationship between individuals’ religiosity, political ideology, and environmental concern, in a cross-national setting. My analyses use data from multiple waves of the World Values Survey (1999-2009) with a final sample that includes 44,391 respondents nested in 43 countries. By using a multilevel modeling technique, I find that, in general, religiosity is positively associated with respondents’ environmental concerns in terms of willingness to pay for the environment, agreement with increased taxes to prevent environmental pollutions, and choosing environmental protection over economic interests. Political ideology, measured via individuals’ self-placement on a left-right continuum, does not have a statistically significant relationship with environmental concern in a global setting. Nevertheless, I observe an interaction effect between religiosity and political ideology. Increased religiosity, particularly among more conservative individuals, is associated with a higher probability of environmental concern. Comparatively, religiosity virtually does not affect liberals’ concern for the natural environment. In other words, the gap between liberals and conservatives regarding the natural environment is more pronounced at lower levels of religiosity, and as religiosity increases, the gap starts to narrow down. It appears that religion can elevate some of the political barriers on the way towards reaching a collective environmental consciousness. I discuss my findings regarding theory and policy implications.

Author

• Peyman Hekmatpour, University of Oklahoma