The changing sociocultural context of wildlife conservation

This article proposes a multilevel model of value shift to describe the changing social context of wildlife conservation. Our model depicts how cultural-level processes, driven by modernization, affect changes in individual-level cognition, prompting a shift from domination to mutualism wildlife values. Domination values promote beliefs that wildlife should be used primarily to benefit humans, while mutualism values adopt a view that wildlife are part of one's social network, and worthy of care and compassion. Such shifts create emergent effects (e.g., new interest groups) and challenges to wildlife management organizations (e.g., increased conflict), and dramatically alter the socio-political context of conservation decisions. While this model is likely applicable to many modernized countries, we tested it using data from a 2017-2018 nationwide survey (mail and email panel) of 43,949 residents in the United States. Multilevel modeling indicated strong state-level effects of modernization variables on domination and mutualism. Higher levels of education, income, and urbanization in a state were associated with higher percentages of Mutualists and lower percentages of Traditionalists, who have strong domination values. As an illustration of the effects of values on attitudes concerning key management challenges, states with higher proportions of Mutualists exhibited less support for lethal control of wolves; likewise, these states exhibited lower percentages of active hunters, who represent the traditional clientele of state wildlife agencies in North America. We contend that agencies will need to embrace new strategies to engage and represent a growing segment of the public with mutualism values. The applicability of our model merits testing in other countries. Article impact statement: Application of a multilevel model of social change reveals implications of a shift in public values for wildlife conservation in the U.S. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.