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Are We All Green Now? Public Opinion on Environmentalism in Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Pippa Norris
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Extract

OWING TO THE GROWTH OF THE GREEN MOVEMENT IN THE 1980S MANY feel that Britain has experienced a cultural revolution on environmental issues. According to conventional wisdom, public opinion has come to reflect a deep-rooted and widespread sense of environmental awareness, with long-term consequences for British politics. Yearley suggests that there has been a significant ‘greening’ of British public opinion in recent years.’ In a series of articles reviewing attitudes towards environmental values, Young concludes that evidence for a culture shift ‘is almost beyond dispute’. Environmentalists commonly make three distinct claims, namely: there has been a growth of public concern about environmental issues; as a result public support for green policies and ideas has increased; in turn this has led to greater environmental activism, including support for the Green Party, involvement in environmental groups and green consumerism.

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Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , July 1997 , pp. 320 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1997

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References

1 Yearley, Steven, The Green Case: A Sociology of Environmental Issues, Arguments and Politics, London, Harper Collins, 1991, pp. 78–87.Google Scholar

2 Young, Ken, ‘Shades of Green’ in British Social Attitudes: the 8th Report, Aldershot, SCPR/Dartmouth, 1991, p. 113.Google Scholar

3 For the main studies see Young, Ken, ibid.; Heath, A. et al., Understanding Political Change: The British Voter 1964–1987, Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1991, pp. 186–299 Google Scholar; Vaus, J., ‘How Green is the British Public?’, UK CEED Bulletin, Vol. 26, 1989, pp. 10–11 Google Scholar; Cotgrove, S. and Duff, A., ‘Environmentalism, Values and Social Change’, British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 32, 1981, pp. 92–110 Google Scholar; Cotgrove, S. and Duff, A., ‘Environmentalism, Middle Class Radicalism and Politics’, Sociological Review, Vol. 28, 1980, pp. 333–51.Google Scholar

4 See Social Trends 21, London, Central Statistical Office, 1991, p. 157. See also J. Vaus, ‘How Green is the British Public?’, op. cit.

5 See Ken Young, ‘Shades of Green’ in British Social Attitudes: The 8th Report, op. cit., p. 107. See also Young, Ken, ‘Interim Report: Rural Prospects’ in Jowell, R., Witherspoon, S. and Brook, L. (eds), British Social Attitudes: The 5th Report, Aldershot, SCPR/Gower, 1988 Google Scholar; Young, Ken, ‘Local Government and the Environment’, in Jowell, R., Witherspoon, S. and Brook, L. (eds), British Social Attitudes: The 1985 Report, Aldershot, SCPR/Gower, 1985 Google Scholar; Young, Ken, ‘A Green and Pleasant Land?’ in Jowell, R., Witherspoon, S. and Brook, L. (eds), British Social Attitudes: The 1986 Report, Aldershot, SCPR/Gower, 1986 Google Scholar; Young, Ken, ‘Interim Report: The Country‐side’ in Jowell, R., Witherspoon, S. and Brook, L. (eds), British Social Attitudes: The 1987 Report, Aldershot, SCPR/Gower, 1987 Google Scholar; Young, Ken, ‘Living Under Threat’ in Jowell, R., Witherspoon, S. and Brook, L. (eds), British Social Attitudes: The 7th Report, Aldershot, SCPR/Gower, 1989 Google Scholar. See also ‘Countryside and Environment’, S‐1, S‐4, S‐19 British Social Attitudes Cumulative Sourcebook, Aldershot, SCPR/Gower, 1991.

6 Heath, Anthony et al., Understanding Political Change: The British Voter 1964–1987, Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1991, pp. 190–92Google Scholar.

7 In the final NOP/BBC and Harris/ITN exit polls the environment was not even included as an option in the questionnaire in the list of ‘most important issues’.

8 See The Gallup Political and Economic Index, April, May, June 1992.

9 Hencke, David, ‘Poll Shift Pushes Policies off Air’, The Guardian, 6 04 1992 , p. 13 Google Scholar, a study by the Communications Research Centre, Loughborough University.

10 Dunlap, R. E., ‘Public Opinion and Environmental Policy’ in Lester, J. P., Environmental Politics and Policy, Durham, NC, Duke University Press, 1989.Google Scholar

11 Porritt, Jonathon, Seeing Green, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1984 Google Scholar; Porritt, Jonathon and Winner, D., The Coming of the Greens, London, Fontana, 1988.Google Scholar

12 Jonathon Porritt and D. Winner, ibid.

13 Young, 1991, op. cit.

14 Heath et al., op. cit., pp. 188–9.

15 This was based on principle component analysis transformed with varimax rotations. Items with factor loadings greater than 0.3 were used in the analysis. The figures in the Table include factor loadings after rotation.

16 The Pearson product moment correlation was as follows:

17 For details see Lowe, P. and Goyder, J., Environmental Groups in Politics, London, Allen & Unwin, 1983.Google Scholar

18 Cronbach’s Alpha for the reliability of each scale was as follows: Old Green 0.42; New Green 0.93; Anti‐Nuclear 0.58.

19 See, for example, Elkington, J. and Hailes, J., The Green Consumer Guide, London, Gollancz, 1988 Google Scholar; Howlett, L., Cruelty‐free Shopper, London, Bloomsbury, 1989 Google Scholar; Button, J., How to be Green, 2nd ed., London, Century, 1990 Google Scholar; Porritt, J. (ed.) Friends of the Earth Handbook, London, Optima, 1990 Google Scholar. See also Mackenzie, D., ‘The Rise of the Green Consumer’, Consumer Policy Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, 04 1991, pp. 68–75.Google Scholar

20 S. Irvine, ‘Beyond Green Consumerism’, Friends of the Earth Discussion Paper 1, London, FOE, 1989.

21 See Social Trends 21, London, HMSO, 1991, Table 11.8. This figure represents population. It should be noted that the BSA‐90 estimate, based on survey data is higher. See also Parry, Geraint, Moyser, George and Day, Neil, Political Participation and Democracy in Britain, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992, pp. 241–266 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22 See Gene Frankland, E., ‘Does Green Politics have a Future in Britain? An American Perspective’ in Rudig, Wolfgang, Green Politics One, 1990, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1990, pp. 12–15.Google Scholar

23 See The Best Future for Britain: The Conservative Manifesto 1992, London, Conservative Central Office, 1992, p. 43; It’s Time to Get Brilain Working Again: Labour’s Election Manifesto, London, Labour Party, April 1992, pp. 22–23.

24 For an analysis of the problems facing the party see Wolfgang Rudig and Philip Lowe, ‘The Withered “Greening” of British Politics: A Study of the Ecology Party’, Political Studics, Vol. XXXIV, 1986, pp. 262–84. For a theoretical explanation of their lack of success see Wolfgang Rudig, Explaining Green Party Development, Strathelyde Papers on Government and Politics, No. 71, Glasgow, 1990. For a comparison see Muller‐Rommel, F. (ed.), New Politics in Western Europe: The Rise and Success of Green Parties and Alternative Lists, Boulder, Colo., Westview Press, 1989 Google Scholar; Parkin, Sara, Green Parties: An International Guide, London, Heretic Books, 1989.Google Scholar

25 See E. Gene Frankland, ‘Does Green Politics have a Future in Britain? An American Perspective’ in W. Rudig, Green Politics One, 1990, op. cit.

26 This figure is the average derived from over 100 polls by all the major companies from June 1989 to June 1990.

27 Cronbach’s Alpha for these ten items was 0.89.

28 Those who reported that this did not apply were excluded from the analysis, along with the ‘Don’t Knows’.

29 Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.71.

30 The Cronbach Alpha for the reliability of these items was 0.71.

31 See, Rudig and Lowe, op. cit.

32 Inglehart, Ronald, Silent Revolution, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1977 Google Scholar; Inglehart, Ronald, Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1990 Google Scholar; Inglehart, Ronald, Modernism and Post‐Modernism, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1997.Google Scholar

33 Dalton, Russell, Citizen Politics in Watern Dnnocmcia: Public qiniim and Political Partics in the United States, Gnat Britain, West Germany and Fmnce, Chatham, NJ, Chatham House, 1988, pp. 82–95 Google Scholar.