Climate change denial is motivated in part by ideology, with research showing that a greater tolerance of social inequality is consistently linked to lower pro-environmentalism. We report findings from two mixed-methods studies. In Study One, we provide insight into how individuals with varying levels of social dominance orientation discuss environmental issues by analyzing 59 interviews. These analyses revealed that many individuals were concerned about the causes, consequences, and potential solutions to climate change; however, many were also armed with justifications excusing their and others’ inaction on the problem. To establish further how the ideas shared in the interviews related to social dominance, we reworked the ideas into statements for survey-based research in Study Two. Social dominance orientation and its composite dimensions related to most interview-based statements, with those scoring higher on dominance attitudes more opposed to top-down action on climate change, and those more tolerant of inequality more opposed to individual action. We discuss implications for climate change communication.

否认气候变化的部分原因是意识形态，研究表明，更大程度地容忍社会不平等与降低亲环境主义有关。我们报告了两项混合方法研究的发现。在研究一中，我们通过分析59项访谈，深入了解具有不同社会主导地位的个人如何讨论环境问题。这些分析表明，许多人担心气候变化的原因，后果和潜在解决方案。但是，许多人也有充分的理由为自己和他人在问题上无所作为。为了进一步确定在访谈中分享的想法与社会主导地位之间的关系，我们将这些想法重新整理成陈述，用于研究二中基于调查的研究。社会主导地位取向及其综合维度与大多数基于访谈的陈述有关，其中在主导态度上得分较高的人更反对自上而下地应对气候变化，而那些对不平等的宽容则更反对个人行动。我们讨论了气候变化交流的意义。