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Climate Change Denial among Radical Right-Wing Supporters

Author

Listed:
  • Kirsti M. Jylhä

    (Institute for Futures Studies, P.O. Box 591, 10131 Stockholm, Sweden)

  • Pontus Strimling

    (Institute for Futures Studies, P.O. Box 591, 10131 Stockholm, Sweden
    Centre for Cultural Evolution, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden)

  • Jens Rydgren

    (Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden)

Abstract

The linkage between political right-wing orientation and climate change denial is extensively studied. However, previous research has almost exclusively focused on the mainstream right, which differs from the far right (radical and extreme) in some important domains. Thus, we investigated correlates of climate change denial among supporters of a radical right-wing party (Sweden Democrats, N = 2216), a mainstream right-wing party (the Conservative Party, Moderaterna , N = 634), and a mainstream center-left party (Social Democrats, N = 548) in Sweden. Across the analyses, distrust of public service media (Swedish Television, SVT ), socioeconomic right-wing attitudes, and antifeminist attitudes outperformed the effects of anti-immigration attitudes and political distrust in explaining climate change denial, perhaps because of a lesser distinguishing capability of the latter mentioned variables. For example, virtually all Sweden Democrat supporters oppose immigration. Furthermore, the effects of party support, conservative ideologies, and belief in conspiracies were relatively weak, and vanished or substantially weakened in the full models. Our results suggest that socioeconomic attitudes (characteristic for the mainstream right) and exclusionary sociocultural attitudes and institutional distrust (characteristic for the contemporary European radical right) are important predictors of climate change denial, and more important than party support per se.

Suggested Citation

  • Kirsti M. Jylhä & Pontus Strimling & Jens Rydgren, 2020. "Climate Change Denial among Radical Right-Wing Supporters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:23:p:10226-:d:458367
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Piotr Żuk & Paweł Żuk, 2021. "On the Socio-Cultural Determinants of Polish Entrepreneurs’ Attitudes towards the Development of Renewable Energy: Business, Climate Skepticism Ideology and Climate Change," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-16, June.
    6. Mukul Sharma, 2023. "Hindu Nationalism and Right-wing Ecology: RSS, Modi and Motherland Post-2014," Studies in Indian Politics, , vol. 11(1), pages 102-117, June.

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