Framing and Feeling Fuel Environmentally Responsible Behaviors of Black Residents in the United States

Abstract

Scholars have long investigated factors contributing to enactment of environmentally responsible behaviors (ERBs), largely among white populations. Although research has debunked the myth that black people express less environmental concern, few studies examine what influences their pro-environmental behavior. We focus on how the cognitively oriented cultural frames of environmentalism and environmental justice combine with overlooked emotions to shape ERBs reported by a nationally representative sample of 988 black residents in the United States. Results indicate that the environmentalism frame, indicated by environmental identity but not attitudes, enhances all the behaviors examined: general conservation, cost-saving conservation, recycling, and advocacy. Effects of environmental justice, however, are more limited. Passion for environmental protection likewise positively affects all pro-environmental actions, and moral outrage over the condition of the environment exerts strong positive effects on conservation and advocacy. In highlighting the role of emotions in conjunction with cultural frames on ERBs, new avenues for research emerge.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Publication Date

10-1-2019

Publication Title

Sociological Perspectives

Department

Sociology

Additional Department

Environmental Studies

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0731121419852946

Keywords

Emotions, Pro-environmental behaviors, Environmental identity, Environmental attitudes, Environmental injustice, Cultural frames, African Americans

Language

English

Format

text

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