IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jriskr/v10y2007i8p1047-1063.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Worldviews Matter? Post-materialist, Environmental, and Scientific/Technological Worldviews and Support for Agricultural Biotechnology Applications

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew Knight

Abstract

This paper draws upon the social science literature to evaluate whether materialist/post-materialist, environmental, and scientific/technological worldviews predict levels of support for biotechnology applications. The novelty of this research is two-fold: 1) it incorporates the post-materialist hypothesis in risk perception models, and 2) it evaluates the effects of the these three worldviews simultaneously. Data from a regional southwest telephone survey in the United States conducted in Spring 2004 were used to investigate whether these three worldviews were related to support of various animal and plant biotechnology applications. The results illustrated that post-materialist values were not significantly related to support for animal or plant biotechnology applications. However, environmental and science and technology measures were related to support. One of the new ecological paradigm items, "humans have the right to modify nature," was consistently related to support for animal and plant biotechnology applications, and anti-anthropocentric values were related to support for two plant applications. General attitudes toward science and technology were related to support for both animal and plant biotechnology applications. The results provide evidence that perceptions of these applications are multi-dimensional and that respondents conceptualize animal and plant biotechnology applications differently.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Knight, 2007. "Do Worldviews Matter? Post-materialist, Environmental, and Scientific/Technological Worldviews and Support for Agricultural Biotechnology Applications," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(8), pages 1047-1063, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jriskr:v:10:y:2007:i:8:p:1047-1063
    DOI: 10.1080/13669870701603004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13669870701603004
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13669870701603004?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. George Gaskell & Nick Allum & Wolfgang Wagner & Nicole Kronberger & Helge Torgersen & Juergen Hampel & Julie Bardes, 2004. "GM Foods and the Misperception of Risk Perception," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(1), pages 185-194, February.
    2. Anders Biel & Andreas Nilsson, 2005. "Religious Values and Environmental Concern: Harmony and Detachment," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 86(1), pages 178-191, March.
    3. Lennart Sjöberg & Anders af Wåhlberg, 2002. "Risk Perception and New Age Beliefs," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(4), pages 751-764, August.
    4. Bonita L. McFarlane, 2005. "Public Perceptions of Risk to Forest Biodiversity," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(3), pages 543-553, June.
    5. Richard J. Bord & Robert E. O'Connor, 1990. "Risk Communication, Knowledge, and Attitudes: Explaining Reactions to a Technology Perceived as Risky," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(4), pages 499-506, December.
    6. Davis, Darren W. & Davenport, Christian, 1999. "Assessing the Validity of the Postmaterialism Index," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 93(3), pages 649-664, September.
    7. Clarke, Harold D. & Kornberg, Allan & McIntyre, Chris & Bauer-Kaase, Petra & Kaase, Max, 1999. "The Effect of Economic Priorities on the Measurement of Value Change: New Experimental Evidence," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 93(3), pages 637-647, September.
    8. Inglehart, Ronald, 1971. "The Silent Revolution in Europe: Intergenerational Change in Post-Industrial Societies," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(4), pages 991-1017, December.
    9. Richard C. Stedman, 2004. "Risk and Climate Change: Perceptions of Key Policy Actors in Canada," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(5), pages 1395-1406, October.
    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. Gea Hoogendoorn & Bernadette Sütterlin & Michael Siegrist, 2021. "Tampering with Nature: A Systematic Review," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 141-156, January.
    2. Jingling Chen & Rob van Tulder & Tao Eric Hu & Thorben Kwakkenbos, 2020. "Why People Do Not Keep Their Promise: Understanding the Pro-Environmental Behavior in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-18, August.
    3. Branden B. Johnson & Brendon Swedlow, 2021. "Cultural Theory's Contributions to Risk Analysis: A Thematic Review with Directions and Resources for Further Research," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(3), pages 429-455, March.

    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. Bruce Tranter, 2015. "The Impact of Political Context on the Measurement of Postmaterial Values," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(2), pages 21582440155, June.
    2. Oliver Hansen & Richard S.J. Tol, 2003. "A Refined Inglehart Index Of Materialism And Postmaterialism," Working Papers FNU-35, Research unit Sustainability and Global Change, Hamburg University, revised Oct 2003.
    3. Jan Delhey, 2010. "From Materialist to Post-Materialist Happiness? National Affluence and Determinants of Life Satisfaction in Cross-National Perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 97(1), pages 65-84, May.
    4. Bonita L. McFarlane & David O. T. Witson, 2008. "Perceptions of Ecological Risk Associated with Mountain Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) Infestations in Banff and Kootenay National Parks of Canada," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 203-212, February.
    5. Spencer Henson & Mamane Annou & John Cranfield & Joanne Ryks, 2008. "Understanding Consumer Attitudes Toward Food Technologies in Canada," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1601-1617, December.
    6. Mark D. Promislo & Robert A. Giacalone & John R. Deckop, 2017. "Assessing Three Models of Materialism–Postmaterialism and Their Relationship with Well-Being: A Theoretical Extension," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 531-541, July.
    7. Tobias König & Andreas Wagener, 2012. "Culture and Tax Structures," CESifo Working Paper Series 3748, CESifo.
    8. Elena Samarsky, 2020. "Who is Thinking of Leaving Germany? The Role of Postmaterialism, Risk Attitudes, and Life-Satisfaction on Emigration Intentions of German Nationals," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1066, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    9. König, Tobias & Wagener, Andreas, 2008. "(Post-)Materialist Attitudes and the Mix of Capital and Labour Taxation," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-404, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    10. Zoran Pavlović & Bojan Todosijević, 2020. "Global cultural zones the empirical way: value structure of cultural zones and their relationship with democracy and the communist past," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 603-622, April.
    11. Karen Stenner & Zim Nwokora, 2015. "Current and Future Friends of the Earth: Assessing Cross-National Theories of Environmental Attitudes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-21, May.
    12. Nicolás C. Bronfman & Luis Abdón Cifuentes & Michael L. deKay & Henry H. Willis, 2007. "Accounting for Variation in the Explanatory Power of the Psychometric Paradigm: The Effects of Aggregation and Focus," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 527-554, June.
    13. Veenhoven, Ruut, 1990. "Inequality in happiness: inequality in countries compared across countries," MPRA Paper 11275, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Ali, Maged & Azab, Nahed & Sorour, M. Karim & Dora, Manoj, 2019. "Integration v. polarisation among social media users: Perspectives through social capital theory on the recent Egyptian political landscape," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 461-473.
    15. Wouter Poortinga & Nick F. Pidgeon, 2006. "Exploring the Structure of Attitudes Toward Genetically Modified Food," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1707-1719, December.
    16. Brianne Suldovsky & William K. Hallman, 2022. "The National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard of 2016: Intersection of Technology and Public Understanding of Science in the United States," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-15, September.
    17. Guillaume Peterson St-Laurent & Shannon Hagerman & Robert Kozak, 2018. "What risks matter? Public views about assisted migration and other climate-adaptive reforestation strategies," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 573-587, December.
    18. Peter M. Sandman & Paul M. Miller & Branden B. Johnson & Neil D. Weinstein, 1993. "Agency Communication, Community Outrage, and Perception of Risk: Three Simulation Experiments," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(6), pages 585-598, December.
    19. repec:bla:glopol:v:8:y:2017:i:s6:p:78-86 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Hu, R. & Deng, H., 2018. "A Crisis of Consumers’ Trust in Scientists and Influence on Consumer Attitude," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276047, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    21. Alan Arwine & Lawrence Mayer, 2014. "Tolerance and the Politics of Identity in the European Union," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 95(3), pages 669-681, September.

    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:taf:jriskr:v:10:y:2007:i:8:p:1047-1063. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RJRR20 .

    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.