Authoritarianism and Attitudes toward the Environment
Schultz, P. W. & Stone, W. F (1994). Authoritarianism and attitudes toward the environment. Environment and Behavior, 26, 1, 25-37.
Assessed the relationship between authoritarianism and concern for the environment. Study 1, a field study with 80 attendants (aged 19-86 yrs) of 2 planning board meetings, found the opponents of a proposed riverside power plant to be less authoritarian and more environmentally concerned than supporters of the plant's establishment. Overall, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) correlated ^.51 with environmental concern. Study 2, with 87 undergraduates (aged 18-34 yrs), replicated this finding using a validated measure of environmental concern, the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) scale. NEP correlated ^.54 with RWA. It is concluded that the relationship between authoritarianism and environmental concern is strong.
