Committing to the Antarctic: values, ecological beliefs, and social identity in national perception

ABSTRACT The objective of this study is to analyse the role of a perceived value that may result from identification with the Antarctic region the identity that results from association with the Chilean claim to that territory, and adherence to various ecological beliefs that may bear on a perception of responsibility in the care and protection of Antarctica, by inhabitants of southern Chilean Patagonia. Three general population studies (n1 = 218), (n2 = 401), (n3 = 260) measured what were termed Antarctic values, Antarctic Social Identity (ASI), ecological beliefs, and perceived responsibility for Antarctic care and protection. The first study showed the importance of social identification as a mediating variable between the attributed Antarctic value and the perception of responsibility, showing that the identity variable played a fundamental role in the phenomenon of perceived responsibility. The second study compares three cities that formally share the ‘Antarctic social identity’ label (a sense of belonging to the group of cities linked to the Antarctic). This study reveals that, despite sharing this social category, the orientation related to custodial behaviour towards Antarctica is also linked to other socio-identity variables. Here we refer to all the psychological and social variables involved in the process that leads to feeling part of one social identity; that is, identifying with a group of people with whom one shares, for example, the place where one lives. The third study compares two generations of adults (‘young’ and ‘mature’) and confirms that the older group shows a pattern of social responsibility that considers identity variables more profoundly. These results are discussed within the context of the importance of understanding the role of these variables in attitudes towards the Antarctic region at a time when, from both political and environmental perspectives, opportunities arise for inhabitants living close to this territory to reconsider their roles.