Worldviews and public attitudes toward gene-edited foods in Japan.

Abstract

This study examines public attitudes toward gene-edited foods in Japan, focusing on how underlying worldviews shape these responses. Drawing on a national survey and a latent class segmentation model based on 23 worldview variables, we identify four distinct segments: Communitarian, Environmentalist, Governmentalist, and Individualist. The findings indicate modest rather than sharply polarized differences in attitudes, with the Communitarian and Environmentalist segments expressing greater caution than the Governmentalist and Individualist segments. Across all four segments, gene-edited foods are broadly perceived as unnatural, yet support for commercialization remains comparatively high, suggesting that perceptions of unnaturalness do not necessarily translate into strong opposition to commercialization. This pattern suggests that evaluations of gene-edited foods are shaped by multiple normative considerations, in which moral or symbolic concerns coexist with pragmatic judgments about societal benefits and technological governance. These findings suggest that similar levels of support or skepticism can emerge from differing normative orientations.