SOCIETAL CHANGE AND SHIFTING WILDLIFE VALUES
Results from Wildlife Values in the West indicate that rapid changes in society are related to a shift in the wildlife values held by the American public.
It is proposed that relatively recent changes in the lifestyles of many Americans (e.g., increasing education and income, urbanization) are changing the motivational basis for engagement with wildlife. Looking at the strong influence of some of these demographic factors on value orientation types at the state level provide evidence that a shift in public values toward wildlife values is underway in the United States.
- Urbanization had a particulary large effect on the presence of Mutualist wildlife value orientations in the western U.S. states
- The opposite relationship was found between income and the presence of Mutualist wildlife value orientations
- Urbanization in the western U.S. states also demonstrated a strong, inverse relationship with the presence of Utilitarian wildlife value orientations
- Urbanization had a particulary large effect on the presence of Mutualist wildlife value orientations in the western U.S. states
