‘Environmental policy and social exclusion’, Journal of European Public Policy, 8, 2001, pp. 82-100.

Abstract

This article reports the main results of a four-country comparative analysis of the relationship between social exclusion and environmental attitudes and behaviour. Five socially excluded groups were studied through secondary data analysis and case studies. Norms of environmental behaviour tended to be universalized in Germany and Switzerland with much greater differentiation of the socially excluded in Britain and Greece. There were also significant differences between the socially excluded groups with lone parents likely to be particularly receptive to appropriate policy measures. Policy measures are reviewed in relation to the concept of empowerment. Environmental policy could be more effective if it was sensitized to the differential effect of measures on social groups.