The varying effects of left–right ideology on support for the environment: Evidence from a Swedish survey experiment

Harring, Niklas; Sohlberg, Jacob

doi:10.1080/09644016.2016.1244965

Cited by 42 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Most proposals to introduce or increase a CO 2 tax are met by resistance, in particular from people to the ideological right (e.g. Fairbrother, 2016;Harring & Sohlberg, 2017). However, what the results in this article suggest is that, in contexts dominated by right-wing ideals, a combination of a tax and a compensatory scheme may be a successful route forward and a way to increase public support for an effective climate policy tool.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…This suggests that an ideological position to the left increases overall support for the introduction of pro-environmental policy measures. However, although the effect of ideology on policy attitudes has been established in a magnitude of studies, some recent research demonstrates that an ideological left-right cleavage only appears to be valid for some countries and contexts, and even runs in the opposite direction for others (Fairbrother, 2016;Harring & Sohlberg, 2017;McCright, Charters, Dentzman, & Dietz, 2016). In addition, while it is established that left-wing voters in general are more positive towards taxes, it is less obvious that they should be so when it comes to an increased CO 2 tax, since individuals with lower income may be more affected than individuals with higher income (cf.…”

Section: The Effects Of Compensatory Schemes and Ideological Constraintsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of compensatory measures on public support for carbon taxation: an experimental study in Sweden

2018

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This study aims at better understanding how, and to what extent, perceptions of a policy instrument's distributional effects impact on policy support, focusing on the case of CO 2 taxes on petrol in Sweden. Through a large-scale (N = 5000) randomized survey experiment with a 2 × 3 factorial design, the extent to which perceptions of fairness determine attitudes to a suggested increase of the Swedish CO 2 tax is explored. Furthermore, the study considers whether these effects change with the level of the suggested tax increase, as well as whether negative sentiments can be alleviated by combining it with a compensatory measure in the shape of a simultaneous income tax cut financed by the revenues from the tax increase. The results show that a higher tax increase is both viewed as more unfair and enjoys weaker support. Furthermore, compensatory measures can be a powerful policy design tool to increase perceptions of the policy as fair, but the effect of compensation on policy support is conditioned by the individual's leftright ideological position. Whereas people self-identifying to the right react favourably to compensatory measures, people self-identifying to the left become less supportive of a tax increase when combined with a simultaneous cut in income taxes. Key policy insights. Perceptions of fairness are highly important for explaining public support for climate policy tools, specifically CO 2 taxes. . Compensatory measures can be a powerful policy design tool to increase perceptions of the policy as less unfair. . However, the effect of compensatory measures on policy support is conditioned by ideological position, and only successful among people to the ideological right. . In contexts dominated by right-wing ideals, a combination of a tax and a compensatory scheme may be a successful route forward towards increased climate policy support. . In left-oriented contexts the results imply that a CO 2 tax without compensation seems more likely to increase support.ARTICLE HISTORY

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 62%

Section: The Effects Of Compensatory Schemes and Ideological Constraintsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of compensatory measures on public support for carbon taxation: an experimental study in Sweden

2018

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“…using a five-point scale running from "clearly to the left" to "clearly to the right." Individuals on the right of the political spectrum are often more hostile towards market interventions in general, and several studies have shown that compared to individuals on the left, individuals leaning to the right are less likely to express environmental support (Dunlap et al 2001; for critique, see Harring and Sohlberg 2017;Fairbrother 2016). We also include gender in our analysis, as gender has been argued to affect environmental support (Dunlap et al 2000;Stern et al 1993).…”

Section: Controlsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Higher education, norm development, and environmental protection

2019

Self Cite

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There is a debate on whether higher education in the social sciences generates stronger democratic and environmental norms among students. In our study, we focus on students' perceptions about legitimate rule in the case of environmental protection. We contribute to this debate by using a unique longitudinal data set from seven universities and university colleges in Sweden. Our results show that higher education in the social sciences does not generate stronger democratic or environmental norms, at least not in the case of environmental protection. We discuss why this is the case and refine our results further by looking at individual-level factors, such as gender and ideology.

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“…Many studies in the environmental sociology and risk or science communication literatures suggest that what most distinguishes people who reject environmental science is their political ideology-particularly their attitudes towards markets (see Harring & Sohlberg, 2016 for a discussion). There are important differences between the environmental attitudes of people with different basic values or political party allegiances (e.g., Dunlap & McCright, 2015;Hmielowski, Feldman, Myers, Leiserowitz, & Maibach, 2014;Kahan et al, 2011;Kahan et al, 2012).…”

Section: Hard Core Distrustersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental attitudes and the politics of distrust

Fairbrother

2017

Sociology Compass

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This article reviews recent studies showing that distrust lies at the heart of the serious crisis of sustainability that humanity is failing to address, insofar as distrust of environmental scientists, communicators, and policymakers are all undermining public demand for better public policies. Generalised distrust of scientists is rare, but political distrust is ubiquitous, such that even people who are concerned about environmental problems are often opposed to potential policy solutions. There are also people, however, who do not even believe in some of the problems—most notably climate change. This scepticism is sometimes interpreted as a consequence of their preferring free markets to regulation; in other ways, though, the sceptics are not at all sympathetic to free markets. What appears more distinctive about them is their distrust of virtually all elite social institutions, including communities of experts, and a corresponding divide between their beliefs and preferences and those of experts generally.

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The varying effects of left–right ideology on support for the environment: Evidence from a Swedish survey experiment

Cited by 42 publications

References 63 publications

The impact of compensatory measures on public support for carbon taxation: an experimental study in Sweden

The impact of compensatory measures on public support for carbon taxation: an experimental study in Sweden

Higher education, norm development, and environmental protection

Environmental attitudes and the politics of distrust

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