Black concern for the environment: Myth versus reality

Abstract

This article first discusses major misconceptions and limitations of research conducted in the United States on race and concern for the environment. An overview of four hypotheses pertaining to concern for the environment among blacks is then provided. Support for each hypothesis is judged by reviewing recent literature and by analyzing the National Opinion Research Center's (NORC) General Social Survey (GSS) trend data 1973–93. The overall evidence shows that concern for the environment is not just an issue for whites and that a “concern gap”; between whites and blacks probably does not exist. It also demonstrates that support among blacks for environmental protection did not decline more than it did for whites during hard economic periods. There is limited evidence to suggest that blacks place a slightly higher priority than do whites on improving the conditions of the social environment than on the state of the environment in general.