Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-g5fl4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-29T01:43:55.591Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

eleven - Values and public expressions of concern

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

Fiona Spotswood
Affiliation:
University of the West of England
Get access

Summary

Introduction

This chapter grapples with the evidence for the importance of values in motivating people to express social or environmental concern – whether at the supermarket, the ballot box, or on the streets. This evidence base points to possible new approaches to strengthening such concern. It highlights the importance of appealing to ‘intrinsic’ values in the course of communicating about specific causes (for example, biodiversity loss or disability rights). It also underscores the importance of promoting these values more widely in society – often by working tangentially on issues that may at first seem unrelated to these causes. As such, this chapter presents an approach to strengthening public concern about social and environmental challenges that is an alternative, both ideologically and theoretically, to many of those currently in favour (such as behavioural economics – see Chapter Six) that sidestep changing people's engagement or relationship with important issues in favour of merely changing their behaviour. Organisations working for positive social or environmental change would do well to incorporate an understanding of values into their work.

Public demand for change

Collectively, we confront some very significant challenges, from climate change to human rights abuses, from inequality to malnutrition, from biodiversity loss to various forms of prejudice. It is the contention of this chapter that addressing these challenges will require far stronger public expressions of concern – expressed through the choices that people make about the goods and services that they buy, their use of resources in their private lives, and whether, and how, they engage politically.

Addressing these challenges will also require significant changes in government and business. It can be seen that these changes themselves require stronger public expressions of concern. In the absence of this, government and business find themselves hopelessly constrained in what they are able to achieve.

Of course, some governments prove themselves to be both electable and socially and environmentally progressive. Some businesses turn a profit while achieving significant steps towards social and environmental responsibility. Such change is important, but it is patently not proportionate to the scale of the challenges that we confront, and, as Chapter Nine demonstrates, relying on business for the societal changes we require is a strategy rife with limitations.

Type
Chapter
Information
Beyond Behaviour Change
Key Issues, Interdisciplinary Approaches and Future Directions
, pp. 217 - 236
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Print publication year: 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×