IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/climat/v139y2016i3d10.1007_s10584-016-1821-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cross-pressuring conservative Catholics? Effects of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the U.S. public opinion on climate change

Author

Listed:
  • Nan Li

    (Texas Tech University)

  • Joseph Hilgard

    (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Dietram A. Scheufele

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison & Morgridge Institute for Research)

  • Kenneth M. Winneg

    (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Kathleen Hall Jamieson

    (University of Pennsylvania)

Abstract

In an encyclical released in June of 2015, Pope Francis cast the need to address climate change as a moral imperative. Using nationally-representative surveys with supplemental samples of Catholics, we investigate changes in the U.S. public’s post-encyclical attitudes about climate change and the Catholic pontiff. People who were aware of the encyclical held more polarized attitudes toward climate change than those who were unaware of it. Whereas encyclical-aware liberals expressed heightened concerns about climate change, encyclical-aware conservatives expressed lower levels. Cross-pressured by the inconsistency between the pontiff’s views and those of their political allies, conservative Catholics devalued the Pope’s credibility on climate change. These findings have important implications for communication about climate change in polarized opinion environments.

Suggested Citation

  • Nan Li & Joseph Hilgard & Dietram A. Scheufele & Kenneth M. Winneg & Kathleen Hall Jamieson, 2016. "Cross-pressuring conservative Catholics? Effects of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the U.S. public opinion on climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 367-380, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:139:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s10584-016-1821-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-016-1821-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-016-1821-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10584-016-1821-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dan M. Kahan & Hank Jenkins-Smith & Donald Braman, 2011. "Cultural cognition of scientific consensus," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 147-174, February.
    2. Ezra M. Markowitz & Azim F. Shariff, 2012. "Climate change and moral judgement," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 243-247, April.
    3. Pelletier, Nathan, 2010. "Environmental sustainability as the first principle of distributive justice: Towards an ecological communitarian normative foundation for ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 1887-1894, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bron Taylor & Jen Wright & Todd LeVasseur, 2020. "Dark green humility: religious, psychological, and affective attributes of proenvironmental behaviors," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 10(1), pages 41-56, March.
    2. Jonathon P. Schuldt & Adam R. Pearson & Rainer Romero-Canyas & Dylan Larson-Konar, 2017. "Brief exposure to Pope Francis heightens moral beliefs about climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 141(2), pages 167-177, March.
    3. Jens Koehrsen & Marian Burchardt, 2024. "Religion and Development: Alternative Visions, Credibility, and Networks as Religious Assets for Sustainable Development?," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 24(2), pages 129-146, April.
    4. Asheley R. Landrum & Rosalynn Vasquez, 2020. "Polarized U.S. publics, Pope Francis, and climate change: Reviewing the studies and data collected around the 2015 Papal Encyclical," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(6), November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Asheley R. Landrum & Rosalynn Vasquez, 2020. "Polarized U.S. publics, Pope Francis, and climate change: Reviewing the studies and data collected around the 2015 Papal Encyclical," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(6), November.
    2. Mattauch, Linus & Hepburn, Cameron & Stern, Nicholas, 2018. "Pigou pushes preferences: decarbonisation and endogenous values," INET Oxford Working Papers 2018-16, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    3. A. M. Strong & M. C. Vea & C. Ginger & M. R. Blouin & L. Edling & M. N. Barrios-Garcia & M. J. McDonald & Z. Ispa-Landa, 2024. "Teaching and learning about race, culture, and environment in a predominately white institution," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 14(3), pages 538-547, September.
    4. David Klenert & Franziska Funke & Linus Mattauch & Brian O’Callaghan, 2020. "Five Lessons from COVID-19 for Advancing Climate Change Mitigation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(4), pages 751-778, August.
    5. Lu, Xi & Mo, Hongming & Deng, Yong, 2015. "An evidential opinion dynamics model based on heterogeneous social influential power," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 98-107.
    6. Sedona Chinn & P. Sol Hart, 2021. "Effects of consensus messages and political ideology on climate change attitudes: inconsistent findings and the effect of a pretest," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 1-21, August.
    7. Ramli, Noor Asiah & Munisamy, Susila, 2015. "Eco-efficiency in greenhouse emissions among manufacturing industries: A range adjusted measure," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 219-227.
    8. Ericson, Torgeir & Kjønstad, Bjørn Gunaketu & Barstad, Anders, 2014. "Mindfulness and sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 73-79.
    9. Teresa Myers & Matthew Nisbet & Edward Maibach & Anthony Leiserowitz, 2012. "A public health frame arouses hopeful emotions about climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 1105-1112, August.
    10. Michael D. Jones, 2014. "Cultural Characters and Climate Change: How Heroes Shape Our Perception of Climate Science," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 95(1), pages 1-39, March.
    11. Di Falco, Salvatore & Sharma, Sindra, 2018. "Investing in Climate Change Adaptation: Motivations and Green Incentives in the Fiji Islands," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 394-408.
    12. Bazzi, Samuel & Fiszbein, Martin & Gebresilasse, Mesay, 2021. "“Rugged individualism” and collective (in)action during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    13. Daniela Salite, 2019. "Explaining the uncertainty: understanding small-scale farmers’ cultural beliefs and reasoning of drought causes in Gaza Province, Southern Mozambique," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(3), pages 427-441, September.
    14. Janice Y. Jung & Barbara A. Mellers, 2016. "American attitudes toward nudges," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 11(1), pages 62-74, January.
    15. Kauder, Björn & Potrafke, Niklas & Ursprung, Heinrich, 2018. "Behavioral determinants of proclaimed support for environment protection policies," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 26-41.
    16. Donatella Baiardi, 2021. "What do you think about climate change?," Working Papers 477, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2021.
    17. Tim T. Pedersen & Mikael Skou Andersen & Marta Victoria & Gorm B. Andresen, 2021. "30.000 ways to reach 55% decarbonization of the European electricity sector," Papers 2112.07247, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2022.
    18. D'Amato, Alessio & Giaccherini, Matilde & Zoli, Mariangela, 2019. "The Role of Information Sources and Providers in Shaping Green Behaviors. Evidence from Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.
    19. Elizabeth Suhay & James N. Druckman, 2015. "The Politics of Science," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 658(1), pages 6-15, March.
    20. Philip E. Tetlock & Gregory Mitchell & L. Jason Anastasopoulos, 2013. "Detecting and Punishing Unconscious Bias," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(1), pages 83-110.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:139:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s10584-016-1821-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.