Debate over global warming causes heat

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Conservative white males are more likely than other Americans to question the validity of climate change science, according to a study by sociologists Aaron McCright, Michigan State University, and Riley Dunlop, University of Oklahoma. The study, entitled "Cool dudes: The denial of climate change among conservative white males in the United States," was printed in the October 2011 issue of Global Environmental Change. (The title "cool dudes" is a facetious reference to conservative icons Rush Limbaugh, John Boehner, James Inhofe and George Will.)

"We find that conservative white males are significantly more likely than are other Americans to endorse denialist views" and that "these differences are even greater for those conservative white males who self-report understanding global warming very well," says an abstract for the study.

The study analyzed polling data on climate change denial from 10 Gallup surveys between 2001 and 2010 and found that climate change denial increased.

Why? The study abstract says "System-justifying tendencies lead to climate change denial."

Conservative females were less likely than males to deny climate change. "Progressive" males and females who are more accepting of government regulation were more likely to believe climate change was taking place.

The study raised hackles in the United States. Scientific American magazine reports that James Taylor, a senior fellow for environmental policy at the Heartland Institute in Chicago said the paper "engage(d) in race baiting, class baiting and other sociological devices to win a scientific argument." BF