Skepticism in Different Atmospheres: A Cross-country Analysis of the Social and Political Causes of Climate Change Skepticism
Abstract
Abstract
While climate change skepticism has been studied fairly extensively in the literature, few use
cross-country comparisons with cultural explanations. Furthermore, few use class as an
explanatory variable. This thesis fills these gaps in the literature and uses the theories of
Inglehart and Bourdieu in an attempt to better explain climate change skepticism. Using data
from the 2010 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) survey and the 2012 US General
Social Survey, I analyze the effects of political orientation, social class and other social variables
on climate change skepticism across Canada, the United States and Norway. The key findings
are:
1. Political orientation is most important in the USA and least important in Norway.
2. The interaction between education and political orientation is not observed in Canada and
Norway.
3. In terms of class, technocrats are found to be more skeptical about climate change than
socio-cultural specialists across all three countries
Description
Keywords
Education--Sociology of
Citation
Ting, J. (2016). Skepticism in Different Atmospheres: A Cross-country Analysis of the Social and Political Causes of Climate Change Skepticism (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27795