사회과학연구(SSK)지원사업_기후변화연구소_4

 "Political Ideology and Environmental Concern: Evidence from South Korea"

 정호용(경제학과 교수 / 국민대학교)

Abstract

As environmental crises such as climate change emerge around the world, the success of eco-friendly policies hinges on understanding people’s environmental consciousness. Focusing on a political determinant of environmental concerns and the case of South Korea, which has rapidly developed and democratized, this study develops and tests a theory of the relationship between political ideology and environmental concern. We conducted an empirical analysis of the Korea Environment Institute’s 2018 and 2020 surveys of Korean citizens using multivariate regression. After controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, we find that individuals’ environmental concern diverges with their political ideology. Specifically, conservative ideology is closely associated with less environmental concern, such as less environmental awareness, non-priority for environmental issues, substitute belief between environment protection and economic growth, and less eco-friendly activities. These results suggest governments should consider citizens’ political ideology to successfully establish environmental policies.

키워드: political ideology; environmental concern; South Korea