This project is investigating whether individuals who believe themselves to be environmentally-responsible consumers also have strong pro-environment political attitudes.  This is a collaborative project led by political scientists Sunshine Hillygus (Primary Investigator) and Scott Clifford at Duke University, and involves a survey experiment that tests the effects of participants’ attitudes as consumers on their political attitudes and likelihood to act on a variety of environmental issues.  This work builds on past research on political consumerism, moral licensing, and moral consistency.  It also connects with past work on crowding-in vs. crowding-out of environmental concerns — when individuals think they are behaving responsibly in one domain of their life, are they more or less likely to act similarly in other domains?  Does such moral behavior crowd-in or crowd-out additional moral actions?  We look forward to exploring these and other questions in this research project.

Researchers Involved in this Project: Sunshine Hillygus, Scott Clifford, Graham Bullock