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The Value Priorities of the Political Elites: A Test of the Postmaterialist Thesis in the Puerto Rican Legislature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Luis Raúl Cámara Fuertes
Luis Raúl Cámara Fuertes*
Affiliation:
University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. luisraulcamara@gmail.com
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Abstract

The postmaterialist thesis has spurred a large body of literature and debates, yet postmaterialism has not been studied among political elites. Empirical studies of the legislatures and legislators of Latin American nations in general and Puerto Rico in particular, moreover, are sorely lacking. This article examines postmaterialist values among Puerto Rican legislators. It finds that Puerto Rican legislators have high levels of postmaterialism and that they order the components of the postmaterialism scale in ways similar to those of the mass publics of other countries, including those of Latin America. More important, the postmaterialist scale proves of little use in explaining the positions legislators take on a host of issues, many of which are closely associated with postmaterialism. An alternative explanation is that the scale really measures attachment to democratic norms.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , Winter 2009 , pp. 101 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2009

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