Social and Ecological Dimensions of the Alternative‐Conventional Agricultural Paradigm Scale

This paper is an empirical test of the dimensionality and predictive value of the alternative-conventional agricultural paradigm (ACAP) scale developed by Beus and Dunlap. While recognizing that this scale may be appropriate and useful in studies of the agricultural intelligentsia (agricultural scientists, farm policy makers, organization leaders, and farm people actively following and participating in policy deliberations), our data suggest several shortcomings of this scale among a more general sample of farm operators. Initially, the scale is not satisfactorily unidimensional; instead, relatively clear-cut environmental and family-farmist dimensions emerged in our analysis of farmer attitudes. Separate environmental and family-farmist subscales performed better than an omnibus (or paradigmatic) scale in predicting farm operator behaviors.