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CHAPTER 8 Economic Security and Value Change on Five Continents As was argued in chapter 7, the value-change thesis implies that the shift from Materialist to Postmaterialist values is potentially a universal process: it should occur in any country that moves from conditions of economic security to relative security, although during a transitional process older generations will continue to reflect the conditions that characterized their preadult experiences. The value-change thesis has clear implications for the relationships between economic development and value change. Although a high level of per capita income does not necessarily produce a sense of security, it seems likely that people in rich countries will experience a stronger sense of economic security than those in poor nations. A high per capita GNP is at least a rough indicator of a country's level of economic security. In short, economic development should be conducive to a shift from Materialist to Postmaterialist values. Economic Prosperity and Postmaterialist Values Although Inglehart's thesis clearly implies that rich countries should develop higher levels of Postmaterialism than poor countries, until now it was not possible to test this proposition adequately because most surveys had been carried out in relatively wealthy societies. The 1981-83 World Values Survey provided a partial test, which clearly supported Inglehart's basic thesis (see Inglehart 1990). As it provided data on only a handful of developing countries and only one state-socialist society, however, it was of limited utility. Using the 1990-91 World Values Survey we can now test this hypothesis across the full range of economic development. 1 We begin by examining the distribution of Materialist/Postmaterialist values on our twelve-item index, which we present in table 8-1. Before turning to the overall relationship between economic development and values, we will examine the results within geographic and political regions. ,As of 1988, the seven wealthy countries of the European Community2 had a mean per capita income of $15,466.3 Only in Britain did as many 123 TABLE 8-1. Distribution of Values in 40 Societies, 1990-91 Number of Postmaterialist Goals Selected Score on Total Values Society 0 2 3 4 5 Percentage (N) Index Wealthy Countries of the European Community West Germany 6.7% 24.1 28.6 21.1 12.4 7.0 99.9% (1,710) 33.8 Britain 8.90/0 25.6 29.2 21.9 10.0 4.4 100.00/0 (l,356) 27.4 The Netherlands 3.2% 19.5 24.9 26.4 17.8 8.2 100.0% (935) 49.2 France 6.3% 20.1 29.0 26.4 12.4 5.8 100.0% (902) 38.3 Belgium 6.1% 23.0 29.5 24.5 11.6 5.2 99.9% (2,318) 35.2 Italy 8.1% 20.3 29.2 21.5 14.0 6.9 100.0% (1,810) 34.3 Denmark 7.3% 24.0 31.1 21.0 10.6 6.1 100.00/0 (892) 30.4 Less Wealthy Societies of the European Community Ireland 10.8% 27.5 31.0 19.2 8.9 2.7 100.1% (976) 20.0 Portugal 12.0% 26.3 37.8 17.3 5.1 1.5 100.0% (976) 11.9 Spain 9.2% 21.4 27.9 23.0 12.7 5.8 100.0% (3,408) 32.3 Northern Ireland 14.1% 25.4 31.4 20.9 7.4 .7 99.9% (283) 14.9 Western European Countries Not in Community Austria 6.8% 26.3 33.0 19.6 10.7 3.6 100.0% (1,380) 27.1 Iceland 7.3% 23.4 36.8 21.7 8.5 2.2 99.9% (688) 25.1 Finland 1.4% 10.1 29.7 34.9 18.2 5.6 99.9% (444) 57.2 Norway 12.4% 26.4 33.5 17.8 7.7 2.2 100.0% (1,111) 15.3 Sweden 6.4% 23.1 31.3 23.0 10.5 5.7 100.0% (901) 32.8 North America Canada 5.3% 23.4 34.4 21.2 11.2 4.5 100.0% (1,545) 31.6 U.S.A. 9.5% 30.5 30.1 17.6 9.3 3.0 100.0% (1,688) 20.4 Latin America Argentina 12.3% 27.5 32.5 15.3 8.3 4.0 99.9% (932) 15.3 Brazil 11.3% 30.4...

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