Relationship between Cultural Assimilation and Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors

The article seeks to find the relationship between cultural assimilation and environmental attitudes and behaviors. Culture is a very pivotal part of environmental attitudes of individuals and their behaviors. Through the study of ethnic-assimilations theory and its application to the Hispanic groups which have been known to have intra-cultural differences, it was found out that acculturation was negatively related to environmental attitudes, effort, and management of inconveniences. Conventional thinking can tell one that the need for post-materialistic concerns are associated with groups of a higher income level. The cultural assimilation or acculturation of the Hispanic people has an effect on the ideologies and cultural beliefs of the Hispanic people. The attitude towards the environmental care changes progressively with American attitude that is less concerned with environmental protection (Kountouris and Remoundou 369-397).

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The author clearly explains the importance of the study, cultural assimilation and the recycling of attitudes are key indicators or metrics that can be used to assess the relationship between cultural assimilation and environmental attitudes. The author explains further that through Anglo-conformity concept to explain the new entrants can adapt fast to the cultures and values of the host. In the process these groups end up changing their perception to life, a skip from the belief of economic security coming on top of environmental concerns and attitudes. Environmental attitudes are greatly influenced by culture. Recycling attitudes describe a situation where by an individual, the concern for the environment and its level of damage is perceived differently among different groups. The sensitivity to environmental concerns differ among different cultures; this is defined in the paper as ecological consciousness. Recycling attitudes take place among different groups especially Hispanic groups who are the study focus of the research. It is imperative to understand that recycling does not take place much more often as people view it as an inconvenience as . Apparently, it takes a very long time for one to recycle their personal ideologies because it takes a long time to adapt to new cultures.

The study proposes five hypotheses that are brought out clearly. The author chooses to explore the influence of the level of acculturation on environmental attitudes through the use of non-directional hypothesis. Here are the hypothesis of the study that was developed by the author:

H1: There are differences in attitudes toward environmental concern among Hispanics with different acculturation levels.

H2: There are differences in attitude toward the importance of recycling among Hispanics with different acculturation levels.

H3: There are differences in attitudes toward inconvenience of recycling among Hispanics with different acculturation levels.

H4: There are differences in attitudes toward recycling effort among Hispanics with different acculturation levels.

H5: There are differences in recycling behavior among Hispanics with different acculturation levels.

The analysis uses human beings as the units of measurements in the study. The study put to use the following factors in measuring the acculturation of the Hispanic people in America; the age, gender, education and the income of individuals. The above demographic variables were used in the measurements of the following dependent variables that are key to the study:

Environmental Concern

Importance of Environments

Inconvenience

Effort

Recycling Behavior

The dependent variables were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and the correlation matrix. Here are the tabulated results of the measures:

Dependent variables like Recycling behavior was measured through asking the question whether recycling required a lot of extra time. The study composed of questions concerning recycling and the adaptation to new cultures.

The dependent variable in the research thesis was Recycling and the ability of individuals to recycle. Many of the respondents indicated that recycling took a very long time. A poll made from the nine-point Likert scales indicated that majority of the respondents strongly agreed that recycling took a very long time. Other factors that indicated the superiority of host culture was this switch to communication in English among Hispanic groups.

WA 2-Part 2

Data sources used in this study was primary data acquired from a questionnaire that was to be filled by 262 residents of a mid-sized city on the US side of the Mexico-US Border. Student were acquired as principal investigators in the conduction of the survey. The survey was conducted in different malls, grocery stores, the distribution of the locations where the survey was being conducted allowed them to cover affair size of the city. Questionnaires were translated into Spanish on the back side with English on the other side. Both sides of the questionnaire was used irrespective of language chosen.

The sampling theory used was probabilistic. The investigators ensured that the respondents were 18 years of age and had a house hold. The sample was composed of 77% females and 23% male. 20% of these individuals were high school graduates, 72% were college graduates, and 8% had masters degrees. 34%of these individuals reported an income of less than $25,000, 40% were in the $25,000 to $50,000 range, and 26% was composed of individuals earning $50,000 and more. The sample of the reflected area is not a depiction of the national outlook. The results cannot be used to determine the outlook of the nationwide situation as the city chosen is one of the e poorest in the country.

The findings of the research and the findings help to elucidate on whether the author was able to match up their hypotheses with the findings and results of the study. The results from Table 3 indicated the correlation in the hypothesis of the research and the findings from the results. H2 predicted that there would be differences in the attitudes of Hispanic groups on environmental concern due to different acculturation levels among them. The findings of the results confirmed this hypothesis.

Hypothesis H2 TO H5 are all correlate with the findings of the research, Hispanics of different acculturation levels would have different attitudes towards the importance of recycling. H3 had stated that there would be differences among Hispanics with different acculturation levels and their attitudes toward inconvenience of recycling and H4 had stated that there would be differences among Hispanics with different acculturation levels and their attitudes toward recycling effort. The researchers realized that the influence of acculturation towards the attitudes and behaviors of individuals. For instance, the most acculturated group (English only) groups had the lowest scores on environmental concerns while the least acculturated has the highest score indicating a positive attitude towards the environment.

References

Kountouris, Yiannis and Kyriaki Remoundou. "Cultural Influence On Preferences And Attitudes For Environmental Quality". Kyklos 69.2 (2016): 369-397. Web.