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How Much Do People Value Future Generations? Climate Change, Trust, and Public Support for Future-Oriented Policies

SND-ID: 2020-130

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Malcolm Fairbrother - Institute for Futures Studies orcid

Description

Do people care about future generations? Moral philosophers say we should, but it is unclear whether laypeople agree. In particular, humanity’s inadequate efforts to mitigate climate change could be due to public indifference or heavy discounting of future generations’ well-being. Using surveys and survey experiments in four countries—Sweden, Spain, South Korea, and China—we found that most people say they care about future generations, and would be willing to reduce their standard of living so that people can enjoy better lives in the future. However, not everyone who says they care supports two public actions that could be taken for the benefit of future generations: policies to reduce either global warming or national debt. We find evidence that much of people’s apparent lack of concern for future generations is actually due to distrust of major social institutions, and associated doubts about the effectiveness of future-oriented policies.

Language

English

Research principal, contributors, and funding

Research principal

Institute for Future Studies

Responsible department/unit

Institute for Futures Studies

Funding

  • Funding agency: The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences rorId
  • Funding agency's reference number: M17-0372:1
Protection and ethical review

Data contains personal data

No

Method and time period

Unit of analysis

Population

Adults in Sweden (age range 16-65), Spain (age range 16-65), South Korea (age range 18-54) and China (age range 18-50)

Time Method

Sampling procedure

Mixed probability and non-probability
Vi genomförde vår studie i fyra länder med olika nivåer av politiskt förtroende: Sverige, Spanien, Sydkorea och Kina. Baserat på tidigare omröstningar och studier är institutionellt förtroende högt i Sverige och Kina och lågt i Spanien och Sydkorea. Vi valde också dessa fyra länder eftersom de spänner över två kulturellt distinkta världsregioner, och befolkningen i de fyra länderna är också kända för att ha olika nivåer av optimism om framtiden. Undersökningarna gjordes av det internationella företaget Ipsos MORI, med online-paneler för vuxna. Uppnådda N var: Sverige 1084 (spänner över åldersintervallet 16-65); Spanien 1298 (16-65); Sydkorea 1176 (18-54); och Kina 1165 (18-50). Eftersom de är online-paneler är proverna inte helt representativa för de nationella befolkningarna. I synnerhet det kinesiska urvalet innehåller oproportionerligt yngre, mer urbana och mer utbildade respondenter.

Time period(s) investigated

2019 – 2019

Geographic coverage

Geographic spread

Geographic location: Sweden, China, Spain, Korea, the Republic of

Topic and keywords

Research area

Energy and natural resources, Political behaviour and attitudes, Government, political systems and organisations, Elites and leadership, Social behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)
Climate Research, Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology), Philosophy, Ethics (The Swedish standard of fields of research 2011)

Keywords

climatic alteration, energy consumption, ethics, future generations

Publications

Fairbrother M, Arrhenius G, Bykvist K and Campbell T (2021) Governing for Future Generations: How Political Trust Shapes Attitudes Towards Climate and Debt Policies. Front. Polit. Sci. 3:656053. doi: 10.3389/fpos.2021.656053
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2021.656053

If you have published anything based on these data, please notify us with a reference to your publication(s). If you are responsible for the catalogue entry, you can update the metadata/data description in DORIS.

Dataset 1
How Much Do People Value Future Generations? Climate Change, Trust, and Public Support for Future-Oriented Policies - Data from Sweden

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Associated documentation

Version 1

Citation

Malcolm Fairbrother. Institute for Future Studies (2020). How Much Do People Value Future Generations? Climate Change, Trust, and Public Support for Future-Oriented Policies - Data from Sweden. Swedish National Data Service. Version 1. https://doi.org/10.5878/abr0-ba73

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Data format / data structure

Numeric

Text

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Malcolm Fairbrother - Institute for Futures Studies orcid

Data collection

  • Mode of collection: Self-administered questionnaire
  • Time period(s) for data collection: 2019–2019
  • Source of the data: Research data
Dataset 2
How Much Do People Value Future Generations? Climate Change, Trust, and Public Support for Future-Oriented Policies - Data from Spain

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Associated documentation

Version 1

Citation

Malcolm Fairbrother. Institute for Future Studies (2020). How Much Do People Value Future Generations? Climate Change, Trust, and Public Support for Future-Oriented Policies - Data from Spain. Swedish National Data Service. Version 1. https://doi.org/10.5878/4dbq-5253

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Data format / data structure

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Text

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Malcolm Fairbrother - Institute for Futures Studies orcid

Data collection

  • Mode of collection: Self-administered questionnaire
  • Time period(s) for data collection: 2019–2019
  • Source of the data: Research data
Dataset 3
How Much Do People Value Future Generations? Climate Change, Trust, and Public Support for Future-Oriented Policies - Data from China

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Associated documentation

Version 1

Citation

Malcolm Fairbrother. Institute for Future Studies (2020). How Much Do People Value Future Generations? Climate Change, Trust, and Public Support for Future-Oriented Policies - Data from China. Swedish National Data Service. Version 1. https://doi.org/10.5878/ge21-mz09

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Data format / data structure

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Text

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Malcolm Fairbrother - Institute for Futures Studies orcid

Data collection

  • Mode of collection: Self-administered questionnaire
  • Time period(s) for data collection: 2019–2019
  • Source of the data: Research data
Dataset 4
How Much Do People Value Future Generations? Climate Change, Trust, and Public Support for Future-Oriented Policies - Data from South Korea

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Associated documentation

Version 1

Citation

Malcolm Fairbrother. Institute for Future Studies (2020). How Much Do People Value Future Generations? Climate Change, Trust, and Public Support for Future-Oriented Policies - Data from South Korea. Swedish National Data Service. Version 1. https://doi.org/10.5878/8d7f-9q31

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Data format / data structure

Numeric

Text

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Malcolm Fairbrother - Institute for Futures Studies orcid

Data collection

  • Mode of collection: Self-administered questionnaire
  • Time period(s) for data collection: 2019–2019
  • Source of the data: Research data

Contact for questions about the data

Published: 2020-12-10
Last updated: 2021-05-17