Insights on Cultural Worldviews and Public Support for Renewable Energy

Abstract

We explore the relationship between cultural worldviews and support for renewable energy focusing on how individual worldviews of egalitarianism, individualism, hierarchy, and fatalism affect attitudes toward increasing solar and wind energy and decreasing fossil fuel usage. We find that egalitarianism is positively correlated with support for renewable energy and reducing fossil fuel consumption, while individualism is negatively correlated with these policies. Hierarchy emerges as a predictor of opposition to decreasing fossil fuels usage in the U.S. The cultural theory of risk provides a framework for interpreting these results, suggesting that an individuals' perceptions of the balance between nature and society shape their attitudes toward environmental risks, and therefore climate change mitigation strategies such as energy preference. This research demonstrates the importance of considering cultural worldviews when trying to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with energy transition.