Thanks to Jamie Agombar and the NUS team for alerting me to an analysis of British Social Attitudes survey data carried out by NatCen which found that those with a degree were [i] more likely to feel that they understood the causes of environmental problems and [ii] to disagree that we worry too much about the future of the environment and not enough about prices and jobs today.
Here is some finer detail:
- 55% of those with a degree selected a number at the top of the answer scale when asked how much they felt they know about the causes of environmental problems, compared with 34% of those with A-level qualifications or below degree level HE/FE qualifications, 25% of those with GCSE qualifications and 20% of those without qualifications.
- Levels of concern about environmental issues were highest among those with a degree (70%) and lowest amongst those in the GCSE group (45%).
- The majority of those with a degree level qualification disagreed or disagreed strongly (60%) that we worry too much about the environment, compared to around two-fifths of those with A-levels (41%) and those with below degree level HE/FE qualifications (38%). Around a quarter of those with GCSEs (24%) and 15% of those in the no qualifications group, felt that we worry too much about the environment at the expense of prices and jobs.
- Considering the statement ‘The price of a plane ticket should reflect the environmental damage that flying causes, even if this makes air travel much more expensive’, agreement was highest among those with a degree (56 %) followed by those with A-levels (45%), then those with GCSEs/ below degree level HE/FE qualifications (39 and 38% respectively) and was lowest among those without qualifications (35%).
- Considering the statement ‘For the sake of the environment everyone should reduce how much they use their cars’, levels of agreement were highest among those with degree level qualifications (72%), followed by the A-level group (67%). Those with GCSEs (rather than the no qualification group) showed the lowest levels of agreement at 51%.
- Considering the statement ‘There is no point in reducing my car use to help the environment unless others do the same’, 39% of those with a degree level qualification disagreed or disagreed strongly that there was no point reducing their own car use unless others did the same, compared to 17% of those without qualifications and 16% of those with GCSEs.
What to make of this? Maybe it's fairly simple: That is, awareness, interest, concern, etc tend to correlate with education level – a greater ability to think rationally about issues, to analyse, and to synthesise – and a greater tendency to understand and care about such matters tends to increase with maturity.
http://case4all.info/?page_id=52
This link highlights another relevant survey done by Jonathan Rowson about 'stealth denial'. It highlights the gap between what even highly educated people think and want they actually do in the UK. We need to survey not only social attitudes, but more importantly, also social behaviour and its consequences. We are all deeply embedded in an anthropocentric cultural matrix from which it is almost impossible to escape