The Structure and Coherence of the New Environmental Paradigm: Reconceptualizing the Dimensionality Debate

Abstract

This research examines the structure and coherence of an emerging environmental world view as measured by the new environmental paradigm (NEP) scale, developed by Dunlap and Van Liere (1978). We utilize data from two independent surveys of three communities in Colorado and Wyoming, United States, in 1997 and 2012, and examine the extent to which this world view has been accepted by the general public. Using factor analysis, we focus our attention on the structure and coherence of the NEP, as well as the dimensionality of this scale, revisiting the original question raised by Dunlap and Van Liere of whether a coherent ecological world view has emerged among the general public at this point in time. Comparisons between the two surveys reveal that both the structure and coherence of the NEP are highly consistent and stable over time, lending support to the belief that the general public within our study areas has indeed developed such a world view.