Cultura do Consumo e Percepção Ambiental dos Acadêmicos da Universidade Federal de Pelotas - UFPel

Abstract

This work deals with the consumer culture and its influence on the environmental perception of the academics of the Federal University of Pelotas. The objective of the work is to conduct a study on environmental perception, analyzing the influences of consumer culture and environmental perception in a broad sense. In the Western culture, and in part of the Eastern one, especially in countries where capital and freedom are present, the consumption of goods and services has a prominent place in the cultural hierarchy. It then becomes a valuable social signalized, an object of desire common to the vast majority of the population, through which their freedom, individuality and social position are exercised. The text is based on the fact that consumerism, on a planet with more than eight billion inhabitants, has an undeniable impact, with consequences proportional to its dimensionality. Survey research was carried out by means of a questionnaire, applied to undergraduate students at the Federal University of Pelotas - UFPEL. The questionnaire was composed of 13 questions. Among them, 12 are closed questions, in which a 5-point Likert scale was used, and one question with two answer options. The questionnaire obtained 311 respondents who fit the profile, being a graduate student at the Universidad Federal de Pelotas - UFPEL. The results were analyzed using two platforms, the Excel software (Office®) and the R programming language, a statistical language. The answers were analyzed for the population sample obtained. An analysis was also performed for 4 different categorical groups, based on gender, age group, area of knowledge, and number of credits taken. For the analysis of the sample, the results show that consumption has a strong influence on the society/culture in which the undergraduates are inserted, influencing their environmental perception. For the analysis between the different categorical groups, the result obtained is that only for the gender category, divided into male and female, there is a statistically proven difference. The male group showed a higher degree of skepticism about climate change and its anthropic origins, perceive in a lower intensity the influence of consumption on the society/culture where they are inserted, and perceive in a lower intensity a need for behavioral change to increase environmental responsibility. Finally, the study concludes that there is a need to enhance the students' environmental responsibility through interventions derived from environmental education.