Oriental Disadvantage versus Occidental Exuberance

Abstract

This exploratory study is an attempt to appraise concern for environmental pollution in India, in a local context. Taking into account a possible East—West difference in conceptualizing environmental concern, it attempts to understand the role of different sociodemographic variables in predicting `environmental concern' in an Indian context. The much exercised HEP—NEP distinction developed in the West seems inappropriate in the Indian context due to wide differences in traditions and the dominant worldviews. Collecting data from a purposive household survey of 375 respondents, an understanding of major sociodemographic determinants of environmental concern using correlation and multivariate regression analysis has been attempted. The findings are also compared with results from other studies in the West on the whole along with the Health of the Planet (HOP) Survey, 1993 findings on `Willingness to Pay' for India, in particular. The study exhibits a significant positive association of environmental concern with residence, education and income, supporting social class analysis based on a postmaterialism thesis. While age fails to show any significant influence, `caste', a traditional Indian institution, reflects a positive association supporting the elitist bias hypothesis of environmental concern. The study emphasizes the need for further empirical explorations in this regard in order to examine environmental concern in India in a more effective way.