Russell J. Dalton
The Greening of the Globe? Cross-national Levels of Environmental Group Membership
abstract environmental movement still growing members explains crossnational levels environmental mobilisation article addresses questions using data new 19992002 wave world values survey describe membership levels environmental groups across nations examine rival explanations membership concentrated certain nations although environmental concerns exist globally first find environmental groups represent one common forms political group membership global scale membership levels increasing also demonstrate combination social political conditions advanced industrial democracies strong predictor environmental group membership levels table 3 gnp per capitapress freedompostmaterialistsenvironment indexgnp per capita1000 press freedom06821000 postmaterialists060803851000 environment index0356034002831000 acknowledgements author would like thank robert rohrschneider david frank david meyer contributions research alix van sickle research assistance world values survey project access data 19992002 wave notes additional information wvs samples fieldwork questionnaire available project website wwwworldvaluessurveyorg data available interuniversity consortium political social research icpsr 3975 national archives began 59 nations included first public release data may 2004 described inglehart et al 2004 inglehart ronald basanez miguel diezmedrano jaime halman loek luijkx ruud 2004 human values beliefs crosscultural sourcebook siglo xxi editores google scholar include two nations bangladesh tanzania analyses concerns representativeness sample instances environmental group membership high 203 201 respectively membership social groups listed wvs analyses article analyses determined samples large upperstatus uppereducation bias instance united nations development programme education index gives tanzania uganda equivalent scores education levels tanzanian wvs sample twice high uganda comparable level many european nations united nations development programme education statistics bangladesh substantially lower wvs sample mean educational level even higher tanzania excluding two nations strengthens impact economic condition less effect relationships presented markedly higher levels membership registered labour unions 126 professional associations 69 educational groups 122 neumayer 2002 neumayer eric 2002 trust data validity reliability crossnational environmental surveys social science quarterly 83 pp 332340crossref web science google scholar validity check attitudinal items gallup health planet survey found much lower levels consistency often falling minimal levels statistical significance however analyses focused measures environmental opinions variable measurement meaning across surveys reference poll gallup survey wvs correlations european social survey international social survey program display much stronger consistency information european social survey ess available wwweuropeansocialsurveyorg average membership levels 225 higher ess likely due inclusive wording european social survey question organisation environmental protection peace animal rights information issp available wwwissporg overall average membership levels within 2 1993 2000 issp surveys small difference considering different time frame question wording two surveys issp wording member group whose main aim preserve protect environment include third wave wvs 199598 wave used different list groups raises issues comparability membership levels western europe also missing third wave additional data prior wvs waves presented inglehart 1997 inglehart ronald 1997 modernism postmodernism princeton nj princeton university press google scholar norris 2003 norris pippa 2003 democratic phoenix reinventing social activism new york cambridge university press google scholar dalton rohrschneider 2002 dalton russell rohrschneider robert 2002 political action political context multilevel model environmental activism dieter fuchs edeltraud roller bernhard wessels eds citizens democracy east west studies political culture political process pp 333350 opladen westdeutscher verlag google scholar data taken united nations development programme 2001 united nations development programme 2001 human development report new york united nations development programme google scholar indicator gross national product per capita adjusted price parity economic statistics vary across time surveys conducted different years decided use data 2000 consistent across nations adjustments purchasing price parity ppp factors year close proximity sampling dates various wvs surveys also explored alternative measure socioeconomic development united nations human development index combines economic conditions literacy social factors go beyond simple economics gdp using 2000 index scores measure positively related environmental group membership r 0190 index average two sevenpoint scales civil liberties political rights freedom house reports nation resulting index recoded range 1 low democracy 7 high use freedom house scores year wvs conducted press freedom measure freedom house corruption index transparency international statistics year wvs conducted nation postmaterial values also overlap values new environmental paradigm represents encompassing biocentric view nature two value dimensions empirically related milbrath 1984 milbrath lester 1984 environmentalists vanguard new society albany ny suny press google scholar dalton et al 1999 dalton russell et al 1999 critical masses citizens nuclear weapons production environmental destruction united states russia cambridge mit press google scholar since postmaterial index available wvs focus measure values dunlap et al 1993 dunlap riley gallup george gallup alec 1993 health planet survey princeton nj princeton institute google scholar classified nations high medium low personal income sewage named serious community problem 46 lowincome nations compared 12 highincome nations lowincome nations 42 cited poor water quality 34 poor air quality compared 13 14 respectively highincome nations concerns soil overcrowding noise problems display much weaker relationships national income use fouritem postmaterial index available larger number nations question presents four choices respondent asks identify first second choice materialists select first third items postmaterialists second fourth inglehart 1997 inglehart ronald 1997 modernism postmodernism princeton nj princeton university press google scholar opinion one items important would next important maintaining order nation giving people say important government decisions fighting rising prices protecting freedom speech selected election adjacent wvs coded percentage vote green party received election data source wwwelectionworldorg factor analysis four subdimensions esi index full set nations finds items load positively first dimension however stress index displays weakest factor loading 0119 may indication stress leads mobilisation advanced industrial democracies strong correlation national affluence r 0705 suggests may also spurious relationship test independent influence environmental conditions comes multivariate analyses table 2 socialinstitutional capacity dimension directly measure environmental conditions might viewed tapping potential environmental action nation ensure distort results created alternative esi measure excludes subdimension revised measure correlated 0907 original esi addition neither esi summary measure displays statistically significant relationship environmental group membership substituting reduced measure multiple regression analyses table 2 significantly change coefficients model esi 0085 esi revised 0117 thus utilise original esi analyses correlations among four predictors nations given table 3 greening globe crossnational levels environmental group membershipall authorsrussell j daltonhttpsdoiorg10108009644010500175783published online24 january 2007 table 3 download csvdisplay table