8: Environmental Awareness and Acceptability of Pricing Policies in Germany

There is a high level of environmental awareness in most industrial countries. Despite differences in dimension and accentuation, it is clear that the ways of how to deal with nature and the environment are being rethought. If such a rearrangement does not go hand in hand with today's living standards, increased costs and expenses will be the consequence. How willing are citizens to sacrifice their living standards for better environmental protection? We want to ask this question, because the willingness of citizens to pay for as well as citizens' acceptance of governmental measures towards environmental protection are the main conditions of a successful environmental policy. This paper argues from a political point of view and is related to sociological theory.