POL114H5

April 5, 2021
1313 Words
Aspects of Supporting or Opposing Action on Climate

In each reading, both authors give very insightful and enlightening reasons as to why or

what leads people to support or oppose action on climate change. Although both articles were

well written, the journal article that I found to be the most convincing, was the article written by

Bechtel because of two main reasons which include employment-related interests and social

norms such as reciprocity and altruism.

Within each journal article, the authors Bechtel as well as Mildenberger, both discuss

topics that they believe lead citizens to support action on climate change. In each article, the

authors both have interesting arguments. In Bechtel's article, he mainly talks about or is arguing

that essentially "industry-specific costs of emission abatement and internalized social norms help

explain support for climate policy" (Bechtel, 1333). However, in Mildenberger's article, he

argues that instead of industry-specific costs and social norms it is the second-

order principles. Furthermore, it is stated that second-order principles are characterized by bias

and global underestimation and this is what fundamentally leads citizens to support cooperation

on climate change (Mildenberger, 1279).

In the Bechtel article, he firstly theorizes that essentially the distribution of costs and

benefits is what helps individual citizens support global climate policy (Bechtel, 1336). In the

article, he explains that overall, within the context of climate change an international agreement

would have economical, redistributive consequences if the policy were to be effective (Bechtel,

1336). For example, in the text, Bechtel talks about how some individuals who work in a more
polluted setting are expected to be opposed to international climate policy efforts (Bechtel,

1337). This is because the industries that intensified climate regulation will negatively affect

some individual's employment situation which can lead to lower wages (Bechtel, 1337). The

Mildenberger article mainly focuses on the idea of second-order beliefs, and he firstly explains

that essentially there is an egocentric bias that resides within the second-order beliefs of each

political actor (Mildenberger, 1283). He then goes on to state that these preconceived notions

apply broadly to the second-order beliefs of climate science, more precisely the support for

distinct climate policies (Mildenberger, 1281). Essentially, Mildenberger talks about how

individuals can impose their beliefs on others which is why scholars should focus on second-

order beliefs of climate change as well as climate science.

After reading each journal article, the one I found to be the most convincing was the one

written by Bechtel called Interests, Norms, and Support for the Provision of Global Public

Goods: The Case of Climate Co-operation. The reason why I found this article more convincing

was because of the points Bechtel brought up about industry-specific costs of emission

abatement, as well as internalized social norms. These aspects overall made more sense rather

than Mildenberger's idea on second-order beliefs.

Another reason why I found the Bechtel journal more convincing was because, in the

Bechtel journal article, the author elaborated on more than one aspect that helps to suggest why

some citizens support action on climate change. He firstly talks about topics such as

employment-related interests and then moves on to discuss social norms like reciprocity and

altruism. In this journal article, Bechtel states that they constructed their hypothesis by using data

from research that was conducted in the summer of 2012 by YouGov (Bechtel, 1338). The data

that was used came from four surveys which were distributed among 4 countries which were
France, Germany, the UK, and finally the United States (Bechtel, 1338). The surveys that were

conducted firstly talked about the sector-based interests. The results showed that within the

medium sanction support for a climate agreement decreases amongst those who work in a more

pollutive industry (Bechtel, 1338). Overall, the results had indicated that there is a strong

negative and partial correlation between the pollutiveness of an individual's industry of

employment as well as the support for climate cooperation (Bechtel, 1335).

He secondly talks about social norms and he brings up aspects such as reciprocity and

altruism. Firstly, social norms are essentially standards of behaviors and they are based on shared

beliefs on how individuals should behave in a certain situation (Fehr, 185). Within human

society, cooperation is based on social norms (Fehr, 185). This means that if group members

such as family, a peer group, an association as well as a whole society cooperate with something,

the social norm would be for us to also cooperate (Fehr, 189). For example, if the social norm is

to support climate cooperation then everyone is essentially going to cooperate because it is the

shared belief to cooperate in this certain situation (Fehr, 189).

In this journal, Bechtel talks about reciprocity which is a social norm that indicates one's

willingness to contribute to society, and the public good depends heavily on the anticipated

behaviours of others (Bechtel, 1337). The norm of altruism means that individuals can be

temporarily cooperative, furthermore, Bechtel states that social norms are a huge factor that

plays a role in an individual's general political ideology. Overall, regarding the research that was

conducted in this journal article, it was concluded that there was indeed empirical evidence that

reinforced the argument. Essentially both aspects such as the reciprocity and altruism social

norms, substantially predict widespread support for taking action on climate change and climate

cooperation.
 Within the Mildenberger journal, the author only focused on one aspect that leads citizens

to support or oppose action on climate policies. This aspect was second-order beliefs which are

the beliefs that people have regarding the principles of others (Mildenberger, 1280). The main

hypothesis within this journal is that essentially second-order beliefs construct climate-related

political actions within countries (Mildenberger, 1280). Although this journal article brought up

some valid points and evidence, I did not find this journal convincing for many reasons. The

main reason was that the evidence drawn from surveys only came from 2 countries whereas in

the Bechtel journal his evidence came from a total of 4 different countries (Mildenberger, 1286).

This aspect was important because if more countries participate in the surveys then the more

accurate the results. Every country is different, and in order to investigate and get better evidence

or results to prove the hypothesis, then they would need to consider more than just two countries.

The article I found to be the most convincing was the Bechtel journal. The results from

the surveys showed that the hypothesis was correct. Employment-related interests, as well as

social norms like reciprocity and altruism, do play a role in what leads citizens to support action

on climate change. What could be done to overcome climate inaction regarding the first aspect

which is those who fear to lose economically, is to suggest policies (Bechtel, 1352). These

policies can essentially allow for compensation for those who will lose economically from

intensified climate change (Bechtel, 1352). Due to this the method of cooperation can resonate

with universal and largely social norms and it can contribute to reducing the overall public

opposition of global climate agreements (Bechtel, 1352). This research can also allow the

government to have a better understanding of what will allow them to reach a cooperative

solution for global action on climate change.

 Both journal articles have given incredibly valid and important information as to why

some citizens support action on climate change. However, the journal article that I found to be

more convincing was the Bechtel article mainly because of two reasons which include aspects

such as employment-related interests and social norms. Although the Mildenberger journal

article had valid points I found that it lacked evidence in comparison to the Bechtel article. This

was mainly because within the Bechtel article evidence was taken from 4 different countries

whereas in the Mildenberger article evidence was only taken from 2 countries. Thus, I found the

Bechtel article to be more convincing primarily due to the amount of evidence that was found.

References
Bechtel, Michael M., et al. “Interests, Norms and Support for the Provision of Global Public
Goods: The Case of Climate Co-Operation.” British Journal of Political Science, vol. 49,
 no. 4, Cambridge University Press, 2019, pp. 1333–55,
doi:10.1017/S0007123417000205.
Mildenberger, Matto, and Dustin Tingley. “Beliefs About Climate Beliefs: The Importance of
Second-Order Opinions for Climate Politics.” British Journal of Political Science, vol.
49, no. 4, Cambridge University Press, 2019, pp. 1279–307,
doi:10.1017/S0007123417000321.
Fehr, Ernst, and Urs Fischbacher. “Social Norms and Human Cooperation.” Trends in
Cognitive Sciences, vol. 8, no. 4, Elsevier Ltd, 2004, pp. 185–90,
doi:10.1016/j.tics.2004.02.007.