Human behavior causes environmental problems which, in turn, affect people and whole societies. The author elaborates the role of the public in the discourse about environmental protection. As the public consists of socio-economic, legal and political actors, the behavior of those actors is of significance. With a thorough analysis of the International Social Survey Programme, this book illustrates the rocky road from the perception of environmental threats to the reaction toward them. Combining a constructivist and rational choice perspective, the author points out that there are distinctive differences between individual countries in the perception, evaluation as well as in the reaction toward environmental issues. Neither is there a uniform path from perception to reaction, nor exists a one-size-fits-all-solution.

Autorentext

Daniel Lachmann studied sociology at the University of Cologne. His major research interests are social science environmental research, criminology, and quantitative methods of empirical research.

Inhalt

Contents: Why conduct studies on individual environmental behavior? - Environment and society: socio-economic, legal and political actors - Sociological Theories on Environmental Attitudes and Behavior - Data, data quality and measures - Global Environmental Profile - Country profiles.