Ecocitizenship and Medias Exposure in Europe Jean-Paul Bozonnet Mail: [email protected] http://bozonnet.googlepages.com

Political Studies Institute of Grenoble - CNRS-PACTE ISA Conference – Barcelona - September 5-8, 2008

Hypotheses Are there relations between the medias and ecocitizenship? – What type of links between media exposure and ecocitizenship? – Are the media able to influence environmental practices in the domestic or the political sphere? – If so, is this influence the same for the different kinds of media, as TV, radio, newspaper, Internet,…

There are few hypotheses concerning this question. – Downs (1972): the mass media make up spreading organs at the social movements disposal. – Bourdieu (1996): the media make up a frame in which opinions, attitudes and practices are embedded. • Concepts of legitimacy, symbolic power, meta-capital (Couldry, 2003) • Non-bourdieusian concepts of acceptability (of public policies) (Steg & alii, 2005)

Note: These 2 hypotheses aim to explain attitudes, but not practices. So difficult problem => work in progress. Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Method Data: European Social Survey (ESS-2002-2003) 20 European countries. Samples with at least 1000 individuals for each country. 42359 Europeans surveyed.

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Definitions: concepts and indicators Ecocitizenship:

2 types of ecocitizens according to the social frame of their commitment: Collectively committed into a environmental organization: belonging, donator, participant, or voluntary working,… • • •

They act inside a sociopolitical frame. They are typical of the modern era of organization, with restricting social links. Indicators (ESS): Question E7:

“For each of the voluntary organisations I will now mention, please use this card to tell me whether any of these things apply to you now or in the last 12 months, and, if so, which. None, Member participated donated money done a voluntary work …an organisation for environmental protection, peace or animal rights?“

Individually committed: – –

•

They act inside the market world. They are typical of the postmodern era.

Indicators (ESS): Question B22

 "There are different ways of trying to improve things in [country] or help prevent things from going wrong. During the last 12 months, have you done any of the following?"  "Deliberately bought certain products for political, ethical or environmental reasons“ Yes - No "Deliberately boycotted certain products for political, ethical or environmental reasons“Yes - No Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Ecocitizenship in European Countries 1% 2%

Sw e de n De nm ark

1% 1%

Norw ay

1%

Aus tria

Italy

13% 17%

6%

0% 2% 2% 2% 0% 1% 0% 0%

35% 26% 21%

32%

29%

28%

8% 9%

13%

20%22%

7%

26%

13%

8%

27%

Voluntary work

24%

Participation

11%

Member Donation

5%

10% 0% 1% 1% 1% 4% 10% 1% 1% 1% 1% 5% 10% 1% 1% 1% 1% 3% 7% 0% 1% 1% 1% 7% 8% 1% 2%3% 3% 6%8% 0%

39%

27%

10%

1% 3% 4%

Ire land

Gre e ce

19% 12%

6%

42%

26%

5% 5%

1% 2%

Ne the rlands

Portugal

27%

2% 4%

Be lgium

Slove nia

44%

1% 3% 3% 5%

France

55%

23%

10%

6%

1% 3%

Unite d Kingdom

Poland

12%

6%

2% 3%

Ge rm any

Hungary

32%

1%2% 2%4%

Finland

Spain

7% 9%

1% 2%

10%

Boycott Bought

20%

30%

40%

50%

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

60%

Nordic countries (+ Germany and Austria) have the highest level of ecocitizenship, as far as environmental bought or boycott, membership and donation, in short market acting. But some countries have a higher level of organization participation, principally Austria (6% of organization participation), and also Belgium (4%), Germany, United Kingdom, France or Ireland (3%): that is an other way of citizenship based on sociopolitical practices. Eastern and Mediterranean European countries have the lowest levels of ecocitizenship in general. These differential ways of citizenship seem to be linked to political culture (Bozonnet & Jacquiot 1998)

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1. Ecocitizenship index Building an ecocitizenship cumulative index by adding the five items of previous questions: • • • • • •

Bought ecologically friendly products Boycotted products for ecological or political reasons Membership of an environmental organisation Donation to such an organisation Participated to such an organisation Done voluntary work for it

* This index has 6 positions may be transformed Into another index with 20 positions, in order to obtain average out of 20. • Into a binary variable (in order to calculate logistical regression) 3. No environmental action 4. At least one environmental action.

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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1.

Media exposure: Indicators ESS questions: - “On an average weekday, how much time, in total, do you spend • • •

watching television? listening to the radio? reading the newspapers?”

- “How often do you use the internet, the World Wide Web or e-mail – whether at home or at work – for your personal use? On an average weekday, how much time, in total, do you spend

See media exposure for each Euro

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Average weekly number of Internet uses in Europe Personal use of internet (tim es by w eek) 5 4,5 4 3,5 3 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0

0,8

1,0

1,1

1,4

1,5

1,7

1,7

1,9

2,3

2,6

2,7

2,9

3,1

3,4

3,6

3,8

3,8

4,1

4,6

y nd tr ia ds wa y nd en ark ce g ary lan d Sp ain lic It al u gal en ia l and an ce iu m a e l m e n rt lo v Ire F r B e lg do F i A u s rlan N o r zer la Sw ed en m ub o G r H u n Po g p P S D Re t he K in w it e h d S N c e e it Cz Un

Internet use clearly involves a geographical divide: – Northern countries in the lead with the highest mean of Internet practice; – Southern and oriental countries at the back. – In the middle, come France, United Kingdom, Belgium.

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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I Are There Correlations Between Ecocitizenship and Media Exposure ? Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Ecocitizenship index according to TV looking (average number of hours by weekday) 3

2,5

2,8

2,5

2,3

2,2

2 2,0

1,5

1,8 1,6

1

1,3

0,5 0 No time at all

Less than 0,5 hour

0,5 hour to 1 More than 1 hour hour, up to 1,5 hours

More than 1,5 hours, up to 2 hours

More than 2 hours, up to 2,5 hours

More than 2,5 hours, up to 3 hours

More than 3 hours

The more the Europeans look at TV, the less there are ecologically committed. Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Ecocitizenship index according to radio listening (Average number of hours by weekday) 2,5

2,2

2

2,1

2,1

2,2

2,1 2,0

1,9

1,5 1,2 1 0,5 0 No time at all

Less than 0,5 hour

0,5 hour to More than 1 More than More than 2 More than More than 3 1 hour hour, up to 1,5 hours, hours, up to 2,5 hours, hours 1,5 hours up to 2 2,5 hours up to 3 hours hours

Radio listening in general has little significance, compared with ecocitizenship. Those who never listen to radio are much less committed than others. Why? Public disinterest? Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Ecocitizenship index according to newspapers reading (Average number of hours by weekday) 2,5

2,2

2,0

2,3

2,0

1,5 1,3 1,0 0,5 0,0 No time at all

Less than 0,5 hour

0,5 hour to 1 hour

More than 1 hour

Newspapers reading is regularly correlated to ecocitizenship: the more the Europeans read newspapers, the more they are ecologically committed. “Gutenberg galaxy”? Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Ecocitizenship index according to personal Internet use (Average number of times) 3,5 3 2,3

2,5

2,3

2,9

2,2

2 1,5 1

2,4

2,6

1,5 0,9

0,5 0 No access Never use at home or w ork

Less than once a month

Once a month

Several times a w eek

Once a w eek

Several times a w eek

Every day

At last, Internet is the media with the highest correlation to ecocitizenship. Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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First discussion These correlations are confirmed inside almost every the 20 European countries. (=> See the correlations?) Correlations between media exposure and ecocitizenship are contradictory: Ecocitizenship is increasing in direct ratio to newspapers reading and Internet use; conversely, it decreases as duration of TV’s exposure.

Now, there is no evidence to think that some media contents will be more or less ecologically oriented than others. Therefore: … these correlations are based not on the content of the media, but on their form. Medium is message ! (Mac Luhan) …there is a hierarchy in the form of the media regarding ecocitizenship, from the less ecologically friendly as TV, to the most as Internet.

Consequently these correlations are not relevant with Down’s and Bourdieu’s theses, concerning practices. (to learn more about the deficiency of Bourdieu’theory, click there) Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Are these correlations true? Correlation is not causality. Maybe these correlations are illusions. Example : Links between Internet use and ecocitizenship may be fake, due to the real fact that ecocitizens are younger or wealthier, and consequently use more the Internet.

So, before interpreting these correlations, we have to control them by other variables, especially sociodemographics as age, household income, education level,… …thanks to a logistical regression: factors are studied ceteris paribus.

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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II Medias Influence Among Other Factors: Toward New Hypotheses

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Logistical Regression: Significant Sociodemographic Variables by Ecocitizenship Index (1st part) (p > 0,05)  Value variable

 Variable

Not completed primary education

B

0.00

 

Exp(B)

Reference

Primary or first stage of basic

0.76

0.00

2.14

Lower secondary or second stage of basic

1.07

0.00

2.91

1.33

0.00

3.77

Post secondary, non-tertiary

1.60

0.00

4.96

First stage of tertiary

1.89

0.00

6.61

Second stage of tertiary

2.07

0.00

7.96

secondary Personal highestUpper level of education

Eastern

1st quartile

4th quartile

Reference

0.32

0.00

1.37

1.39

0.00

4.00

1.59

0.00

4.90

0.00

 

2d quartile Household income 3d quartile

16-24 years

0.00

 

Area in Europe Mediterranean : political national Western culture Northern

Age

Signif.

Reference

0.27

0.00

1.31

0.35

0.00

1.42

0.33

0.00

1.39

0.00

 

Reference

25-39 years

0.13

0.02

1.14

40-59 years

0.19

0.00

1.21

60 years and +

0.05

0.37

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

ns

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Logistical Regression: Significant Medias Variables by Ecocitizenship index (2d part: continuation) (p > 0,05)  Variable

 Value variable No access at home or work

B

Exp(B)

0,00 Reference

 

Never use

0,16

0,00

1,17

Less than once a month

0,55

0,00

1,74

0,61

0,00

1,83

0,54

0,00

1,72

Once a week

0,53

0,00

1,70

Several times a week

0,68

0,00

1,97

Every day

0,61

0,00

1,85

Once a month Personal use of internet: mail & web Several times a week

No time at all

More than 1 hour Less than 0,5 hour

0,00 Reference

 

Less than 0,5 hour Newspaper reading, total time on average weekday 0,5 hour to 1 hour

TV watching, total time on average weekday

Signif.

0,16

0,00

1,17

0,24

0,00

1,28

0,31

0,00

1,37

0,00 Reference

 

0,5 hour to 2 hour

-0,17

0,00

0,85

More than 2 hours

-0,34

0,00

0,71

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Second discussion All in all, there are undeniable correlations between ecocitizenship and media exposure. But these relations are slight: • Internet use increases twofold chances of ecocitizenship, • … newspaper reading increases them by one third, • …and watching TV cut them by one third.

How these relations work?

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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They are linked to cognitive mobilization… The weakening of relations between media exposure and ecocitizenship (from raw data) is principally due to the influence of education level and political culture of each European country. Now, these fields implies two major hypotheses: • •

Cognitive mobilization: education => open-mindedness + ability to militate… Propensity to act personally, linked to political culture.

As a result, these two hypotheses can also explain the correlation between media exposure and ecocitizenship: the media complete education and cultural influences. What is exactly this link? – Because of their content, media likely add to cognitive mobilization: widening of consciousness, opening up to public debate, and therefore “civic literacy” (Milner, 2002). – But it is not enough: cognitive mobilization cannot explain differential influence of medias on ecocitizenship. So we must go further and consider their anthropological side.

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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…and to the physical and anthropological side of media Each of these relations implies a specific social morphology, more or less favourable to autonomous individual action (Leroi-Gourhan, 1965). – Newspaper reading or radio listening appeals only one sense, either view or hearing: that gives a large way for personal interpretation. – Conversely TV watching appeals these two senses, and does not give way for imagination or interpretation, and consequently for individual initiative or action. – In the same way, Internet use makes interaction possible for the users, and therefore individual initiative.

Moreover, reading implies – – – –

need of attention, possibility of slowness (the reader imposes his own tempo), possibility of linear analysis possibility of step backwards.

So it furthers thought, and detachment necessary to cognitive mobilization and individual and critical action (Gutenberg Galaxy)

In the end, these anthropological explanations make up a rough sketch for hypotheses likely to give an account of the hierarchy of media, as for their relation to ecocitizenship.

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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…Completing the VBN theory Theses results about the media, are consistent with VBN theory of environmentalism (Steg & alii), concerning the moving from personal values to environmental practices. VBN theory confines analysis to personal attitude or opinion level, without reference to institutions shaping them. We propose here to add two major institutions which improve the analysis of attitudes inside the VBN model.

School + national culture + media Values

Beliefs

Norms

Behaviour

Proenvironmental personal Biospheric Altruistic

Activism Ecological worldview (NEP)

Awareness of consequences

Ascription of responsibility

Sense of obligation to take proenvironmental action

Egoistic

Nonactivist behaviour in the public sphere (e.g. acceptability policies) Private sphere behaviours Organisational behaviours

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Conclusion The media influence is often overestimated by common sense, and even by scholars or pundits. In fact, our results show that globally, media have a real but slight influence, compared to heavy factors as education and political culture specific to each European country. A deeper analysis shows that the principle of the media influence is not very different of these latter factors: it is based essentially on cognitive mobilisation. These results for ecocitizenship are rather similar to those for political and civic literacy in general. They should be extended to other forms of citizenship, as defence of human rights, immigrants or consumers, charities, humanitarian action, …

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Bibliography Bozonnet, Jean-Paul (1998), "L'environnementalisme en Europe : des inquiétudes à l'héritage culturel", (avec Pierre Jacquiot), in Les enquêtes Eurobaromètres : analyse comparée des données socio-politiques, (Pierre Bréchon et Bruno Cautrès direction), Paris, L'Harmattan, pp.287-303. Couldry, Nick (2003), “Media meta-capital: Extending the range of Bourdieu’s field theory”, Theory and Society, 32, 653-677. Downs, Anthony (1998), "Up and down with ecology - The "issue-attention" cycle"", Political Theory and Public Choice: The Selected Essays of Anthony Downs, (dir), Cheltenham (UK), Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 100-112. Dunlap, Riley E. and Mertig Angela (1995), "Global Concern for the Environment : Is Affluence a Prerequisite ?“, Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 51, n° 4, pp. 121-137. Dunlap, Riley E. and Mertig, Angela (1997), "Global Environmental Concern : An Anomaly for Postmaterialism", in Social Science Quaterly, Vol. 78, n° 1, pp. 24-29. Goul Andersen, Jørgen, (1990), “Environnementalism, "new politics" et industrialism: some theoritical perspectives”, Scandinavian Political Studies, Vol 13, N°2. Inglehart, Ronald, (1970), “Cognitive Mobilisation and European Integration”, Comparative Politics, vol. 3, n° 1. Inglehart, Ronald (1995), "Public support for environmental protection : objective problem and subjective values in 43 societies", in Political Sciences and Politics, Vol., n°, pp. 57-71. Leroi-Gourhan (André), (1965), Le geste et la parole, tome 2, La mémoire et les rythmes, Albin Michel, Paris, 285 p. Milner, Henry, (2002), Civic Literacy: How Informed Citizens Make Democracy Work, Tufts University Press, 256 p. Steg, L, Dreijerink, L., & Abrahamse, W, (2005), “Factors influencing the acceptability of energy policies”, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 25 : 415-425.

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Thank you for your attention To learn more about stuff like that,… …go to: http://bozonnet.googlepages.com …or mail to: [email protected]

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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ANNEXES

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Media Exposure in European Countries (Average number of current information hours at TV, radio or newspapers) 1,00 0,89

0,88

0,90

0,84

0,81

0,80

0,75

0,75

0,78

0,78

0,60

0,60

0,60

0,71

0,63 0,56

0,57

0,60

0,52

0,68 0,64 0,59

0,60

0,50 0,40

0,35

0,30

0,36

0,36

0,39

0,39

0,61 0,56

0,40

0,40

0,41

0,41

0,41

0,42

0,44

0,45

0,31

0,29

0,26

0,36

0,38

0,71

0,55

0,51

0,38 0,35 0,35

0,90 0,90

0,76

0,68

0,64 0,63

0,94

0,83

0,77

0,68

0,70 0,63 0,60

0,74

0,92

TV watching, news/politics/current affairs on average weekday

0,20

Radio listening, news/politics/current affairs on average weekday 0,10

Newspaper reading, politics/current affairs on average weekday

C

ze c

h

It a ly Re pu bl ic U S ni w ed te d en K in gd om G er m an y Fi n Sw la nd it z er la nd Fr an Po c e rt ug al G re ec e Sp ai n A us N t et h e ria rla nd D s en m ar k N or w ay Ire la nd

gi

um

ry B

el

d

un ga

an

Po l

H

Sl

ov

en

ia

0,00

Reading political news in newspapers is the most significant point, and the most relevant with other indicators as listening to radio as well as looking at TV. Trend-setting links appear between Northern European countries, more interesting in media information, and Southern and Eastern countries. Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

Back

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Media exposure by ecocitizenship index in Europe (p > 0,05) Radio listening, news/ politics/curre nt affairs on average weekday * Ecocitizenshi p index

Newspaper reading, total time on average weekday * Ecocitizenshi p index

Newspaper reading, politics/curre nt affairs on average weekday * Ecocitizenshi p index

Personal use of interne t/email/w ww * Ecociti zenshi p index

TV watching, total time on average weekday * Ecocitizenshi p index

tvtot3 * Ecocitizenshi p index

Radio listening, total time on average weekday * Ecocitizenshi p index

Austria

0.09

0.12

0.07

ns

ns

ns

0.09

Belgium

0.09

0.13

0.08

ns

ns

0.11

0.11

Germany

0.1

0.16

0.06

0.07

0.06

ns

Denmark

0.1

0.11

0.09

ns

0.09

0.13

0.11

Spain

0.1

0.11

0.1

ns

0.1

ns

0.15

Finland

0.1

0.11

ns

ns

0.1

0.11

0.14

France

0.09

0.11

0.1

0.09

ns

ns

0.13

United Kingdom

0.09

0.11

0.07

0.12

ns

0.11

0.11

Greece

0.07

0.08

0.08

0.08

0.07

ns

0.13

Hungary

0.08

0.07

0.08

ns

ns

ns

0.14

Ireland

0.1

0.12

ns

0.08

0.07

ns

0.13

Italy

ns

ns

0.1

0.13

0.14

0.15

0.13

Netherlands

0.11

0.13

0.07

ns

0.07

0.08

0.11

Norway

0.09

0.12

ns

ns

ns

0.08

0.13

Poland

ns

0.07

0.08

ns

0.08

ns

0.12

Portugal

0.08

ns

0.09

ns

0.17

0.2

0.14

Sweden

0.09

0.1

0.07

0.08

ns

0.08

0.11

ns

ns

0.08

ns

ns

ns

0.12

Cramer’V Country 

Slovenia

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

Back

No data

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Why they are not relevant? What about Downs’ thesis? •

Supposing media influence on environmental opinion is true, it is not verified on practices, because with a similar content, these ones are opposing according to the types of media.

What about Bourdieu’s thesis? •

Supposing the media, under State’s thumb, offer a legitimacy (or acceptability) framework for ecocitzenship promoted by authorities, this legitimacy remains at an ideological level; the theory cannot explain why this influence is contradictory according to the media. Back Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Education level Education is by far the most important factor explaining ecocitizenship: European the most educated have 8 times more chances to be committed than the less. How does this factor work? Environmentalism is principally acquired in the scope of high school (or college) education by cognitive mobilisation (Inglehart, 1970). This socialization process works as following... – ...Extension of general understanding, and therefore ecological awareness, (Bozonnet, Jacquiot, 1998) – ...Exposition to political struggles during young age, particularly environmentalism (Goul Andersen, 1990) – In short, socialization is carried out by teachers and by peers.

Back Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Areas in Europe: political national culture This geographical variable is the second most important one. There is a gap between Mediterranean or Oriental countries, and Occidental or Nordic countries: the latter have 5 times more chances to be environmentally committed than the former. The cause of this cleavage does not lie in the wealth of nations (GDP): • the correlation is true “ceteris paribus”, i.e. all things being equal, and the household income being neutralized.

The explication is most likely to refer to different political national cultures in each European country. – These ones are linked to different public policies in each country (different in North/West and South/East) – …and inherited from religion. • countries rooted in Protestantism, principally in northern Europe, emphasize personal responsibility, especially towards political action; which is why individuals have more propensity to be environmentally committed. • …countries rooted in Catholicism, (mainly in Mediterranean Europe), place the responsibility on the public institutions, especially the State: they rely on the latter and don’t think about personal action, which is not legitimate.

Back Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Household Income Contrary to the apparent correlations, household income has little influence on ecocitizenship: at the most the third quartile amount to 1.42. Why? – Simple correlations with income reveal in actual fact : • The influence of education level: higher educated people, who are more environmentalist, are also wealthier. • The cultural influence of Northern and Occidental countries, which are more environmentalist …and have a higher GDP.

–

Moreover, this residue of correlation is likely due to a survey artifact: correlation is blurred by indicators as ecological bought and donation, included in ecocitizenship index.

Incidentally, the 1st thesis of Inglehart (1995) (borrowed from Maslow), claiming that environmentalism is an effect of affluent society, seems invalidated, and objections raised by Dunlap (1995, 1997) confirmed.

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Age Age has very little influence on ecocitizenship. – At the most, we discover that 40-59 age bracket, shows a little more (1.21) ecocitizenship than others: that is the effect of ecological movements of the seventies and eighties.

In fact, the apparent age influence in the simple correlations comes from the higher education level among youngsters. These data invalidate the age effect, often put forward to explain environmentalism.

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Personal Use of Internet: E-mail & Web Simple correlation with Internet use is rather reduced by logistical regression; but it remains clearly correlated to ecocitizenship: those who use it have twice more chances to be committed than others (even if these latter have an Internet access without using). That is not the intensity of using which has influence, but the using itself, whatever the length.

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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Newspaper reading: total time on average weekday

In spite of the logistical regression, newspaper reading keeps a little influence: those who spend more than 1 hour on average weekday have 1.37 chances more to be environmentally committed. The previous simple correlation has been diminished by incorporating education level in the logistical regression.

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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TV watching, total time on average weekday

Despite the logistical regression, TV watching keeps also a modest influence: those who watch more than 2 hours on average weekday have 0.71 chances less to be committed than non-watchers. The simple correlation has been strongly reduced: that is the effect of taking education level into consideration. The lower educated are more TV addicts than others.

Jean-Paul Bozonnet – PACTE-CNRS – IEP Grenoble France First ISA Forum of Sociology– Barcelona, Spain - September 5 - 8, 2008

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