Pro-environmental Norms, Green Lifestyles, and Subjective Well-Being: Panel Evidence from the UK
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Pro‑environmental Norms, Green Lifestyles, and Subjective Well‑Being: Panel Evidence from the UK Martin Binder1,2 · Ann‑Kathrin Blankenberg3 · Heinz Welsch4 Accepted: 28 June 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Previous literature has found a significantly positive relationship between green lifestyles and subjective well-being. These well-being gains could either come from individuals’ conformity with a general social greenness norm or from adhering to a group-specific norm that enhances individuals’ sense of identity. We aim to provide a better understanding about those two channels. We construct measures of the regional prevalence and diversity of green self-image as indicators of the strength of a hypothetical green social norm. Using panel data from the UK, we find the positive relationship between individuals’ green selfimage and life satisfaction to be unrelated to the prevalence of greenness attitudes, whereas the more polarized green/non-green attitudes are, the more well-being is gained from being green and the less well-being is lost from being non-green. This evidence is consistent with the idea that the relationship between a green lifestyle and subjective well-being relies (in addition to conformity with an internalized moral norm) on group identity more than on conformity with a society-wide green norm. Keywords Subjective well-being · Norms · Green behavior · Green self-image · Diversity · Fractionalization · Polarization JEL Classification I31 · Q51 · Q58 · Z13
We appreciate the comments of two anonymous referees. We would further like to thank Leonhard Lades, Jorge Marco Renau, as well as seminar participants at the Cournot Seminar (BETA), University of Strasbourg, the EPA Workshop on Behavioral Science, Subjective Well-being, and the Environment (UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy), University College Dublin, and the ESEE, EAERE conferences for helpful comments. The UKHLS panel data set used in this publication were made available to us by the University of Essex, Institute for Social and Economic Research and NatCen Social Research, Understanding Society. Neither the original collectors of the data nor the Archive bears any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here. Remaining errors are ours alone. * Martin Binder [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
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1 Introduction Our well-being often does not depend on absolutes but on the relative levels we achieve compared to others, for instance, our well-being gain from income depends on aspirations (Graham and Pettinato 2002; Stutzer 2004), reference incomes of our peers (Ferrer-i-Carbonell 2005; Clark et al. 2008) or income inequality more generally (Graham 2017). Such relative or contextual effects can apply to environmental behavior as well: while “green lifestyles” tend to be associated with higher subjective well-being (e.g., Brown and Kasser 2005; Welsch and Kühling 2010, 2011; Kasser 2017; for a discussion se
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