Similar or Different? A Comparison of Environmental Behaviors of US-Born Whites and Chinese Immigrants

Guizhen Ma ()
Additional contact information
Guizhen Ma: Utah State University

Journal of International Migration and Integration, 2019, vol. 20, issue 4, No 15, 1203-1223

Abstract: Abstract Although immigration has been singled out as the major source of environmental degradation in the USA, research has found that the US-born population is more likely than the foreign-born population to be associated with worse air quality. This disparity may be a result of differences in environmental behaviors shaped by diverse cultures. While studies indicate that immigrants, in general, tend to be more environmentally friendly, less is known about how specific immigrant groups differ from the US-born population in environmental behaviors and how diverse cultures may contribute to environmentalism. This study compares household environmental behaviors of Chinese immigrants and US-born Whites, based on face-to-face interviews. The findings show differences and similarities in the environmental behaviors of the two groups. The Chinese immigrants were more likely than the US-born Whites to be frugal in household energy use, to drive less, and to recycle. However, the difference became less evident over time. Assimilation of immigrants into American culture thereby increases environmental harm. Instead, reciprocal assimilation that takes advantage of cultural diversity is more promising for environmental sustainability in a multicultural context.

Keywords: Immigration; Assimilation; Environmental behavior; Ethnic diversity; Comparison; Chinese (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12134-019-00653-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:joimai:v:20:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s12134-019-00653-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... tudies/journal/12134

DOI: 10.1007/s12134-019-00653-4

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Migration and Integration is currently edited by Lori Wilkinson

More articles in Journal of International Migration and Integration from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().