Value Change in Global Perspective

1. Studying Political Values

CHAPTER 1 Studying Political Values Over two decades ago, Ronald Inglehart (1971) proposed a theory of value change that predicted value priorities in advanced industrial societies would tend to shift away from "Materialist" concerns about economic and physical security, toward a greater emphasis on freedom, self-expression, and the quality of life, or "Postmaterialist" values. Arguing that differences between the formative socialization of young Europeans and their elders were leading young birth cohorts to value relatively high levels of freedom and selfexpression , he suggested that future intergenerational population replacement would bring about a shift toward new value priorities. If this value shift is taking place, it has far-reaching implications. The growth of Postmaterialist values appears to have eroded the traditional bases of party realignments by contributing to a decline of social class voting (Dalton 1991; Dalton, Flanagan, and Beck 1984; Inglehart 1977, 1990; Knutsen 1990; Lipset 1981) and to the rise of new social movements (Ganzeboom and Flap 1989; Inglehart 1990; Klandermans 1990; Kriesi 1989; Offe 1990; Rohrschneider 1990). The rise of Postmaterialism appears to be especially important in contributing to environmental movements and parties (Bennulf and Holmberg 1990; Betz 1990; Hoffman-Martinot 1991; MiillerRommel 1989; Rohrschneider 1993; Sciarini and Finger 1991). Changing value priorities may be reshaping the nature of political cleavages and the meaning of "left" and "right," giving rise to a New Politics axis. This new axis cuts across the traditional left-right dimension. Radical reform parties are at one pole of this new axis and Right authoritarian parties and movements like the Christian Coalition, the National Front, and the Republikaner Party are at the other pole (Huber 1989; Inglehart 1977, 1990; Kitschelt 1994; Kitschelt and Hellemans 1990; Lafferty and Knutsen 1985; Minkenberg 1990). Moreover, Dalton, Flanagan, and Beck (1984) and Inglehart (1990) argue that weakening party loyalties and low rates of voter turnout partly reflect the established parties' failure to offer meaningful choices about the New Politics issues. Conversely, Crepaz (1990) demonstrates that the presence of a Green party or some other Postmaterialist party enhances electoral turnout. The growth of Postmaterialism may have even broader implications. 2 Value Change in Global Perspective During the past two decades there has been a remarkable worldwide trend toward democracy, which Samuel P. Huntington (1991) calls the "third wave of democratization." Huntington argues that this movement began in Portugal in 1974, but it has since become a widespread phenomenon with the growth of democratic institutions not only in Western Europe but throughout Latin America, as well as in such Asian societies as South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines. In the early 1990s, about one-fifth of the states of sub-Saharan Africa achieved a successful transition from authoritarian to democratic rule (see Bratton and van de Walle 1994). The collapse of communism provided unanticipated opportunities for democracy throughout Eastern Europe, as well as for the successor states of the Soviet Union. There are many reasons for this trend, but a key component appears to be public sentiment that favors more widespread popular influence in the political decision-making process. Such sentiments do not guarantee that democracy will prevail, but it may be difficult to maintain democratic political institutions without them. Political scientists have become increasingly aware of the linkage between culture and democracy, and the growth of democracy has led to a resurgence of research on political culture. The collapse of communism has led to a far-ranging series of empirical studies of political culture in the Soviet Union and its successor states by Ada W. Finifter and Ellen Mickiewicz (1992), James L. Gibson and Raymond M. Ouch (1994), Arthur H. Miller and his colleagues (1993, 1994), and by William Zimmerman (Zimmerman 1993; Zimmerman and Yarsike 1992). Andrew J. Nathan and his colleagues (Nathan and Shi 1993) have studied Chinese political culture. Similarly, the third wave of democratization has led to a multiauthored work on Political Culture and Democracy in Developing Nations edited by Larry Diamond (1993), to research in Taiwan by Scott C. Flanagan and Huo-yan Shyu (1992), and to research in South Korea by Soo Young Auh (1991). Analyzing time series data from Italy, Robert D. Putnam and his colleagues (1993) have produced a major contribution demonstrating the durability of cultural factors and their impact on democratic political institutions. In addition, a twenty-nation group sponsored by the European Science Foundation has produced a multivolume series on political culture in Western Europe, relying largely upon the EuroBarometer surveys sponsored by the Commission of the European Communities...