Schools, Science, and the Social Bases of Global Environmentalism: an Institutional Analysis of Environmental Organizations and Worldviews

This book contributes to scholarly understanding of global environmentalism by developing an institutional analysis of national variations in social responses to environmental damage. The core of the book's argument is the idea that Western- style mass education encourages both public concern for the environment and the establishment of ecology organizations through four main channels. Mass public education (1) raises general literacy and the capacity for complex and voluntary organization, (2) increases citizens¿ cosmopolitanism, i.e. their interest in regional, national, and global politics, (3) increases cultural individualization, and (4) incorporates ecological topics and themes into school curricula. The book includes two empirical studies, the first on public opinion on environmental issues, the second on the creation of environmental organizations. Both studies are comparative and global in scope.