Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T07:57:01.179Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Measuring Postmaterialism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Ronald Inglehart  and
Paul R. Abramson
Ronald Inglehart
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Paul R. Abramson
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article responds to two critiques of the value change thesis in this issue. Davis and Davenport claim that the four-item index developed by Inglehart is invalid because respondents' first and second choices are randomly related and that it fails to predict respondents' positions on theoretically relevant social issues. We maintain that they make unwarranted assumptions about how responses to ipsative items should be related and demonstrate that the value indicators are powerful predictors. Clarke et al. argue that the trend toward postmaterialism does not result from long-term generational change but simply reflects declining inflation and rising unemployment over the past quarter-century. We show that period effects, particularly inflation, influence observed values. But after controlling for inflation, there is still a substantial shift toward postmaterialism. Moreover, rising unemployment partly offsets the effect of falling inflation.

Type
Forum
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 93 , Issue 3 , September 1999 , pp. 665 - 677
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abramson, Paul R., Ellis, Susan, and Inglehart, Ronald. 1997. “Research in Context: Measuring Value Change.” Political Behavior 19 (March): 41–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abramson, Paul R., and Inglehart, Ronald. 1987. “Generational Replacement and the Future of Postmaterialist Values.” Journal of Politics 49 (February): 231–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abramson, Paul R., and Inglehart, Ronald. 1995. Value Change in Global Perspective. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, Samuel H., Kaase, Max, Allerbeck, Klaus R., Farah, Barbara G., Heunks, Felix, Inglehart, Ronald, Jennings, M. Kent, Klingemann, Hans D., Marsh, Alan, and Rosenmayr, Leopold. 1979. Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western Democracies. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Bean, Clive, and Papdakis, Elim. 1994. “Polarized Priorities or Flexible Alternatives? Dimensionality in the Materialism-Postmaterialism Scale.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 6 (3): 264–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bundesanstalt für Arbeit. 1998. Aktuell: Lexikon der Gegenwart, 1999, p. 34.Google Scholar
Clark, Harold D., and Dutt, Nitish. 1991. “Measuring Value Change in Western Industrialized Societies: The Impact of Unemployment.” American Political Science Review 85 (September): 905–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, Harold D., Dutt, Nitish, and Rapkin, Jonathan. 1997. “Conversations in Context: The (Mis)Measurement of Value Change in Advanced Industrial Societies.” Political Behavior 19 (March): 19–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, Harold D., Kornberg, Allan, McIntyre, Chris, Bauer-Kaase, Petra, and Kaase, Max. 1999. “The Effect of Economic Priorities on the Measurement of Value Change: New Experimental Evidence.” American Political Science Review 93 (September): 637–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Darren W., and Davenport, Christian. 1999. “Assessing the Validity of the Postmaterialism Index.” American Political Science Review 93 (September): 649–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hellevik, Ottar. 1994. “Measuring Cultural Orientations: Ranking vs. Rating.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 6 (3): 292–5.Google Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald. 1971. “The Silent Revolution in Europe: Intergenerational Change in Post-Industrial Societies.” American Political Science Review 65 (December): 991–1017.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald. 1977. The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Styles among Western Publics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald. 1990. Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald. 1994. “Polarized Priorities of Flexible Alternatives: A Comment.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 6 (9): 289–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald. 1997. Modernization and Postmodernization: Cultural, Economic, and Political Change in 43 Societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald, and Abramson, Paul R. 1994. “Economic Security and Value Change.” American Political Science Review 88 (June): 336–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald, Basañez, Miguel, and Moreno, Alejandro. 1998. Human Values and Beliefs: A Cross-Cultural Sourcebook. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. 1985. European Communities Study, 1970: ICPSR Codebook 7260, 2d ed. Ann Arbor: ICPSR.Google Scholar
Jackson, David J., and Alwin, Duane F. 1980. “The Factor Analysis of Ipsative Measures.” Sociological Methods and Research 9 (November): 218–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, M. Kent, and van Deth, Jan W., Barnes, Samuel H., Fuchs, Dieter, Heunk, Felix J., Inglehart, Ronald, Kaase, Max, Klingemann, Hans-Dieter, and Thomassen, Jacques J.A. 1989. Continuities in Political Action: A Longitudinal Study of Political Orientations in Three Western Democracies. New York and Berlin: DeGruyter-Aldine.Google Scholar
Kaase, Max, and Newton, Kenneth. 1995. Beliefs in Government, Vol. 5: Beliefs in Government. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lafferty, William M., and Knutsen, Oddbjørn. 1985. “Postmaterialism in a Social Democratic State: An Analysis of the Distinctness and Congruity of the Inglehart Value Syndrome in Norway.” Comparative Political Studies 17 (January): 411–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rokeach, Milton. 1968. Beliefs and Values: A Theory of Organization and Change. San Francisco: Jossey–Bass.Google Scholar
Rokeach, Milton. 1973. The Nature of Human Values. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Scarbrough, Elinor. 1995. “Materialist-postmaterialist Value Orientations.” In Beliefs in Government, Vol. 4: The Impact of Values, ed. van Deth, Jan W. and Scarbrough, Elinor. New York: Oxford University Press. Pp. 123–59.Google Scholar
World Values Study Group. 1994. World Values Survey, 1981–1984 and 1990–1993 [computer file] (Study #6160). Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research [producer]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor].Google Scholar