The Behavior of English and French Canadians Towards the Environment

The author's study was primarily concerned with examining the behaviors of 615 English and French Montrealers towards the environment. In order to achieve this goal the two ethnic groups (259 English and 356 French) were compared by the author on several variables, namely, attitudes, behaviors, environmental knowledge, differential values, individualism and collectivism, and demographics. Through the use of various multivariate methods the author points out that he was able to come up with some interesting conclusions. His results indicated that although the Francophones in his sample were more likely to have favorable attitudes towards environmental issues, they were also less likely to engage in environmentally friendly behaviors which require a personal cost. The opposite result was obtained for the Anglophones in his sample. He found that the Francophones also proved to be more knowledgeable on recycling issues than the Anglophones. The author found that when acculturation was present, the differences between the attitudes, behaviors, and environmental knowledge of the two groups were indeed made less evident. Francophones in his sample were found to be more individualist, while Anglophones were found to be more collectivist. In line with this finding, Anglophones placed more importance on terminal and instrumental values which are more likely to be held by a collectivist person. The opposite was true for the Francophones in his sample.

Master's Thesis

Concordia University

Montreal

1997

vii-220p.

en