Adaptation or transformation? A system‐justification perspective on pro‐environmental beliefs and behaviors

Abstract

Despite the need for profound systemic change to deal with environmental issues, this is not happening. At a psycho‐sociological level, System Justification Theory has mostly explained environmental inaction by greater environmental denial on the part of individuals motivated to justify the economic system. In this article, and in line with research in political science and sociology, we propose to also take into account the existence of different beliefs concerning the social change needed to deal with environmental problems. While some do advocate for profound transformations of current socio‐economic systems, others propose to maintain and adapt them. Moreover, these beliefs have different implications in terms of the pro‐environmental behaviors (PEBs) to be adopted by individuals. We therefore hypothesized that, independently of environmental denial, individuals who justify the economic system would adhere more to adaptation beliefs (e.g., individualization of responsibility) and reject transformation beliefs (e.g., incompatibility between economic growth and environmental preservation); and that these beliefs would mediate the effects of system‐justification on PEBs depending on whether or not they challenge the economic system. A correlational study (N = 277) corroborated our hypotheses. The importance of taking into account the system‐challenging (or not) nature of some pro‐environmental beliefs and behaviors is discussed.