Inconvenient Truth about Green Consumption: Explaining Environmental Multi-Purposes by Social Stratification

• In Event: 2251 - Section on Environmental Sociology Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 7. Environmental Behavior and Inequality

Abstract

Environmental challenges are becoming more and more important in the contemporary world. Green consumption has been highlighted, especially in the marketplace, as one approach to dealing with this challenge. Although researchers have studied various dimensions of green consumption, including marketing strategies, the motives that people of different social classes offer for engaging in this behavior (e.g. health benefits versus environmental protection) remain to be sufficiently investigated in the social sciences. This study explores how social class position influences green consumption and the motives for engaging in this behavior. The study is based on data collected from 202 U.S. residents (over 19 ages) during the winter of 2017. The data, collected with surveymonkey.com, covers the entire United States. In addition to showing class position as a determinant of green consumption, the results reveal health benefits as a factor influencing the relationship between class position and for green consumption. All the three classes of respondents surveyed (high, middle, and low) consider health as a reason for purchasing organic foods and shopping at organic food markets. However, in terms of engaging in green consumption for the reason of environmental protection, the results are not consistent across the class groups: only the middle and lower class groups are revealed to purchase organic foods for environmental reasons. The higher class group does not relate organic food purchases to environmental protection. In sum, people in the high class tend to engage in organic food purchases for health reasons and for status signaling, while lower and middle class groups relate organic food purchases to both health and environmental reasons.

Authors

• Goh Tae Kyeong, Sogang University

• Seil Oh, Sogang University

• Lazarus Adua, University of Utah