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Global Concern for the Environment: Is Affluence a Prerequisite?
Author(s) -
Dunlap Riley E.,
Mertig Angela G.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1995.tb01351.x
Subject(s) - per capita , variety (cybernetics) , environmental quality , quality (philosophy) , product (mathematics) , gross domestic product , world values survey , economic growth , public economics , development economics , political science , economics , environmental health , population , philosophy , geometry , mathematics , epistemology , artificial intelligence , computer science , law , medicine
It is widely assumed that public concern for environmental quality is dependent on affluence, and is therefore stronger in wealthy nations than in poor nations. This assumption is tested via results from a 1992 international survey conducted by the George H. Gallup International Institute that obtained data on a wide range of environmental perceptions and opinions from citizens in 24 economically and geographically diverse nations. Aggregate, national‐level scores for a variety of measures of public concern for environmental quality were created and correlated with per capita gross national product. Although the results vary considerably depending upon the measure, overall national affluence is more often negatively rather than positively related to citizen concern for environmental quality—contradicting conventional wisdom.