RISK AND SOCIAL POSITION IN EXPLAINING THE ADOPTION OF SOIL CONSERVATION PRACTICES: AN APPLICATION OF CANCIAN'S THESIS

Attitudes, value, and beliefs have always played a central role in explaining why individuals adopt or reject new ideas (Rogers and Shoemaker, 1971). Of these many attitudinal predispositions, risk orientation has been prominent in both sociological and economic research (Menezes and Hanson, 1972; Roumasset et al., 1978; Dillon and Scandizzo, 1978; Binswanger, 1980). Because there is a significant amount of uncertainty related to the returns on investments in soil conservation, it seems logical to relate risk orientation to the adoption of conservation practices. In turn, this information could be valuable in designing or implementing policy intended to facilitate conservation behavior. However, before promoting a widescale acceptance of attitudinal research as the panacea to our current dilemmas in conservation policy, a precautionary note is in order