The Grass is Greener on the Other Side; The Subculture of Environmentalism on a College Campus

This research explores how students on college campuses form their identity as an environmentalist. Past research has studied environmentalism through theories like homophily and norm activation theory, but there is not a lot of research on environmentalism as a subculture. Through conducting in-depth interviews, I explore this formation of environmentalism through subculture theory. The interviews suggest that what students call ‘discovering their passion’ can be looked at as identity activation through a subculture. Not only does it activate environmental identities, but it can also become a burdened structure of accountability for members to ‘live up to the standard’. Members attempt to manage these pressures using impression management (Goffman). The forming of this subculture informs the institutional and peer influences that occur on college campuses