RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE DOMINANT SOCIAL PARADIGM AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN IN SRI LANKAN ECONOMY.

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between the Dominant Social Paradigm and the Environmental Concern in Sri Lankan Economy. It identifies whether there is a significant relationship between these constructs or not .by considering a sample of 385 under the nonprobability sampling method which represents a mix of few religions including Buddhists, Islamists, Catholics and Hindus. It has been identified that there is a positive significant relationship between the Dominant Social Paradigm and the Environmental Concern in Sri Lanka Economy which implies that within the Sri Lankan Economy the consumption and the environment are intertwined. The Dominant Social Paradigm is a content of sub-dimensions of Private Property, Possessive Individualism, Technological Optimism and Economic Growth. Here the Dominant Social Paradigm is taken as a formative construct and the Environmental Concern is considered as a reflective construct. This research can be considered as one of the initial applications of the concept of Dominant Social Paradigm in the Sri Lankan Economy. And this reflects the contextual application of the Dominant Social Paradigm even though the relationships do differ to those of previously identified relationships specially in the Western countries and this research demonstrates that the relationship between the Dominant Social Paradigm and the Environmental Concern is generalizable in this particular context as well. The positive relationship between the Dominant Social Paradigm and the Environmental Concern expresses that Sri Lankan Economy seems to be in a process of making a connection between the consumption and its environmental impacts.