"Views on Use of Laws for Environmental Protection: Examining the Political Partisanship Perspective on the Liberal-Conservative Divergence on Environmental Concern and Behavior" By: Lazarus Adua

Last Friday, the Sociology & Criminology Department had the pleasure of attending a lecture by our very own Sociology Associate Professor, Lazarus Adua. 

Read below for a brief summary of his research. 

Abstract: The political partisanship theory argues that liberals and conservatives diverge on environmental issues due to differences in: 1) support for and standing with business interest over other social goals; 2) level of comfort with fundamental changes to core social institutions; and 3) use of laws and regulations as a tool of governance. This study empirically tests the third proposition. Conservatives often see laws and regulations, especially in relation to environmental reform, as inevitably leading to government expansion. Government expansion, for the most part, is antithetical to conservative orthodoxy. While this explanation is self-evidently plausible, it is necessary to empirically evaluate it. Analysis of several cross-sections of the U.S. General Social Survey confirms evidence from an expanding body of literature that liberals are more likely to express and show greater concern for environmental issues than conservatives. More importantly, the study confirms the argument that differences in views about the use of laws and regulations help explain the liberal-conservative divergence on issues pertaining to the environment