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Post-materialism = Pro-environmentalism?

Ahonen, Jasmin LU (2017) STVK02 20171
Department of Political Science
Abstract
According to Ronald Inglehart, level of individual’s environmental concern is linked with grade of post-materialism resulting from physical and economic security experienced. As post-materialist individuals are considered to prioritize environmental protection over economic benefit, this study raises a question whether this change in values can provide a long-lasting solution for environmental challenges human kind is facing in the near future? This study uses quantitative research method to investigate whether variation in carbon emissions between the member states of European Union can be explained by the level of post-materialism among the public. Three ordinary least squares regression models are constructed in order to answer the main... (More)
According to Ronald Inglehart, level of individual’s environmental concern is linked with grade of post-materialism resulting from physical and economic security experienced. As post-materialist individuals are considered to prioritize environmental protection over economic benefit, this study raises a question whether this change in values can provide a long-lasting solution for environmental challenges human kind is facing in the near future? This study uses quantitative research method to investigate whether variation in carbon emissions between the member states of European Union can be explained by the level of post-materialism among the public. Three ordinary least squares regression models are constructed in order to answer the main research question and sub-question analysing if post-materialism is leading to increased amount of environmental everyday actions and further to lower carbon emissions.
The concluding results indicate that although there is no overall effect of post-materialism on carbon emissions, post-materialist values do have an impact on environmental actions at individual level. Furthermore, a share of highly educated citizens seems to be negatively correlated with the amount of CO2 emissions throughout the analysis, suggesting that increasing the educational level may benefit efforts to reduce carbon emissions caused by member states of European Union. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ahonen, Jasmin LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Study about post-materialisms effects on CO2 emissions and environmental everyday actions in member states of European Union
course
STVK02 20171
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
post-materialism, carbon emissions, VBN-theory, value change, regression analysis
language
English
id
8907641
date added to LUP
2017-07-11 15:29:30
date last changed
2017-07-11 15:29:30
@misc{8907641,
  abstract     = {{According to Ronald Inglehart, level of individual’s environmental concern is linked with grade of post-materialism resulting from physical and economic security experienced. As post-materialist individuals are considered to prioritize environmental protection over economic benefit, this study raises a question whether this change in values can provide a long-lasting solution for environmental challenges human kind is facing in the near future? This study uses quantitative research method to investigate whether variation in carbon emissions between the member states of European Union can be explained by the level of post-materialism among the public. Three ordinary least squares regression models are constructed in order to answer the main research question and sub-question analysing if post-materialism is leading to increased amount of environmental everyday actions and further to lower carbon emissions. 
The concluding results indicate that although there is no overall effect of post-materialism on carbon emissions, post-materialist values do have an impact on environmental actions at individual level. Furthermore, a share of highly educated citizens seems to be negatively correlated with the amount of CO2 emissions throughout the analysis, suggesting that increasing the educational level may benefit efforts to reduce carbon emissions caused by member states of European Union.}},
  author       = {{Ahonen, Jasmin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Post-materialism = Pro-environmentalism?}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}