Abstract
Political affiliation can play a key role in shaping interest towards and emotions about new technologies such as genetically modified (GM) food. This paper examines the extent to which emotional feelings towards and interest in the issue of GM food in the United Kingdom are politically determined. We use the United Kingdom-representative UEA-MORI Risk Survey from 2002 containing information on people's feelings and interests towards GM food to undertake multivariate analysis investigating whether these feelings and interests were formed independently of political attitudes. Results confirm that political affiliation affected both feelings towards GM food and interest in the issue of GM food. Educational attainment is found to influence the extent of individuals’ interest in GM food while younger generations seem to be less interested and more likely to not have bad feelings about GM food. Overall, results stress the influential role of politically-based information, in individuals’ information updating and emotional responses to new technologies.
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Notes
For example, the European food scandals (e.g., Bovine Spogiphorme Ecephalopathy (mad cow disease) and the dioxine case) might have weakened information source credibility.
Viscusi (1997) demonstrates that new information about risks may generate alarmist reactions that are not commensurate with the magnitude of risks. Alarmist responses show that although people are able to process information and learn about risk, they tend to place too much weight on the worst case scenario possible.
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Costa-Font, J., Mossialos, E. & Rudisill, C. Are Feelings of Genetically Modified Food Politically Driven?. Risk Manag 10, 218–234 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/rm.2008.5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/rm.2008.5