Environmental public opinion: methodological principles of research

Abstract

Based on the structural analysis of the toolkit of the foreign monitoring studies, the methodological principles of measuring environmental public opinion are analyzed. Modern developments of socio-psychological models for predicting environmental concern and patterns of environmental behavior, the influence of the social context on environmental activism, the influence of methods of measuring environmental concern on conclusions regarding the relationship between material and post-material values are considered in detail. It is noted that traditional indicators of environmental concern are replaced by tools of sociological measurement of environmental awareness, primarily of anthropocentrism and its relationship with ecocentrism. The need to transition from the (post-Soviet) ecological paradigm to the modern European one, the synchronization of advancement to full membership in the EU with the transit of Ukrainian society from the patronage to the liberal model of democracy determine the features of the social context of measuring environmental public opinion in Ukraine. The specified features of the social context require a radical revision of the methodological principles of measuring environmental public opinion with relevant sociological indicators. First, we are talking about the development of indicators of environmental democracy, such as the level of access to environmental information, participation in the adoption of environmentally important decisions, and access to justice on environmental issues. It is argued that the main task of monitoring environmental public opinion is to identify the dynamics of social changes as a derivative of anthropogenic impact on the environment, to adjust environmental policy considering the existing ecological orientations of the population.