The value of citizenship - ecological citizens and pro-environmental behaviour

• The active involvement of individuals in pro-environmental activities has been increasingly emphasized as an important prerequisite for targeting the sources of environmental degradation. Such involvement can consist in the adoption of comprehensive individual lifestyle-changes or in acceptance of environmental policies. Within political theory an Ecological Citizenship (EC), reinterpreting the traditional state/individual relationship by straddling the private – public; national – global; and present – future divides, has been suggested a valuable approach to realizing a personal responsibility for the environment. As of today, however, empirical research concerning whether the major EC-characteristics are actually an important determinant of pro-environmental behaviour among citizens are still lacking. We compare two sets of individuals: one group guided by traditional (liberal) democratic political citizenship ideals and another representing the ideals emphasized in the ecological citizenship-literature. The key question in the paper is weather ecological citizens differ from “traditional” citizens with strong green attitudes in their environmental behaviour. Is a general green attitudinal orientation enough to bring about behavioural changes? Based on survey data from a Swedish mail questionnaire in Spring 2009, we conclude that ecological citizens are considerably more pro-environmental in their behaviour than others, even when taking general environmental attitudes into account.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Statsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Political Science (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

sustainable development

citizenship

ecological citizenship

attitudes

behaviour

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)