Diverse segments of the US public underestimate the environmental concerns of minority and low-income Americans.

ABSTRACT: In a nationally representative survey experiment, diverse segments of the US public underestimated the environmental concerns of nonwhite and low-income Americans and misperceived them as lower than those of white and more affluent Americans. Moreover, both whites and nonwhites and higher- and lower-income respondents associated the term "environmentalist" with whites and the well-educated, suggesting that shared cultural stereotypes may drive these misperceptions. This environmental belief paradox-a tendency to misperceive groups that are among the most environmentally concerned and most vulnerable to a wide range of environmental impacts as least concerned about the environment-was largely invariant across demographic groups and also extended to the specific issue of climate change. Sugg

SUBMITTER: Pearson AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6298116 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature