The ideological contributors to climate change risk perception: A cross-national study of politics, religion and postmaterialism

Saunders, Richard 2025. The ideological contributors to climate change risk perception: A cross-national study of politics, religion and postmaterialism. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

The purpose of this research is to provide detailed exploration of sociological and sociopsychologicalcontributors to two forms of climate change risk perception, country risk and world risk. The primary focus of the research includes ideological factors including religion, politics and postmaterialism. Religion in particular has been underexamined across the literature, with little understanding of how the various elements of religiosity influence climate change attitudes. The research therefore develops theoretical expectations for the effects of religion and tests these theoretical expectations in both a 3-country analysis and a multilevel analysis of 28 countries. The research also aims to provide greater depth to understandings of how politics functions as a driver of risk perception globally. The 3-country multivariate linear regression analysis focuses on Finland, Japan and the USA, which vary substantially in their political and religious characteristics, with important commonalities including being high-income democracies, shown in country profiles. The 2nd analysis chapter utilises multilevel models with exploration of individual-level and aggregatelevel measures for religion. While individual-level religious affiliation was not important for explaining variation in climate change risk across most countries, with the US being a notable outlier observed in the 3-country analysis, religious attendance, majority religion and proportion of Christians in a country indicate effects on risk perception across countries, emphasising the multifaceted nature of religiosity, particularly from a global perspective. The final analysis contributes to literature pertaining to politics and postmaterialism with an exploration of identified mechanisms in a cross-national context using multilevel models. Random Slopes models indicate that left-wing ideology indicates strong homogeneity across countries, with consistent risk perception amongst individuals in this ideological category. Meanwhile, the climate risk perception of centre-right and right-wing individuals varies substantially across countries. The research identifies religious attendance, postmaterialism, majority religion and national wealth as factors contributing to this variation.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Funders:	ESRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	3 July 2025
Last Modified:	03 Jul 2025 08:20
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/179420

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