ABSTRACT
Recent research has found that the extent to which individuals subscribe to the dominant social paradigm (DSP) of Western societies is a critical determinant of their attitudes toward social and environmental issues (Shafer 2006; Kilbourne, Beckman and Thelen 2002; Kilbourne, Beckmann, Lewis and Van Dam 2001). The DSP concept, initially developed by social psychologists (Milbrath 1984; Dunlap and Van Liere 1984; Pirages 1977), is generally recognized to include economic, political and technological dimensions. The economic dimension includes attitudes such as support for free market capitalism and belief in the possibility and desirability of unlimited economic growth. The political dimension is usually theorized to include support for limited or no government regulation, private property rights and individual freedom. The technological dimension includes such tenets as belief in the ability of science and technology to solve mankind’s challenges and a concomitant faith in future material abundance and prosperity.
