Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Foreword by Hans-Dieter Klingemann
- Introduction
- PART I THE FORCES SHAPING VALUE CHANGE
- 1 A Revised Theory of Modernization
- 2 Value Change and the Persistence of Cultural Traditions
- 3 Exploring the Unknown: Predicting Mass Responses
- 4 Intergenerational Value Change
- 5 Value Changes over Time
- 6 Individualism, Self-Expression Values, and Civic Virtues
- PART II THE CONSEQUENCES OF VALUE CHANGE
- Conclusion: An Emancipative Theory of Democracy
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Value Changes over Time
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Foreword by Hans-Dieter Klingemann
- Introduction
- PART I THE FORCES SHAPING VALUE CHANGE
- 1 A Revised Theory of Modernization
- 2 Value Change and the Persistence of Cultural Traditions
- 3 Exploring the Unknown: Predicting Mass Responses
- 4 Intergenerational Value Change
- 5 Value Changes over Time
- 6 Individualism, Self-Expression Values, and Civic Virtues
- PART II THE CONSEQUENCES OF VALUE CHANGE
- Conclusion: An Emancipative Theory of Democracy
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In Chapter 4, we found large intergenerational differences linked with the survival/self-expression values dimension – but we did not find them everywhere. In postindustrial democracies and the western group of ex-communist societies, the young are much likelier to emphasize self-expression values than the old; smaller age differences are found in developing societies and in the eastern ex-communist group; and little or no intergenerational differences are found in low-income societies. If these intergenerational differences portend long-term shifts toward increasing emphasis on self-expression values in postindustrial societies, they have important implications. For (as the second half of this book demonstrates) increasing emphasis on self-expression values is linked with growing mass demands for democracy where it does not exist, and growing pressures to deepen democracy where it does exist.
Materialist/postmaterialist values are a key component of the survival/self-expression dimension, and, as we have just seen, the large age-related differences that were found with these values in 1970 actually did predict long-term changes in the prevailing values of postindustrial societies. Does this pattern hold more generally, with the age differences that are linked with survival/self-expression values predicting long-term social changes? As we will see, they do. Let us examine the changes over time found with other components of the survival/self-expression dimension, starting with its participatory component.
The Rise of Elite-Challenging Civic Action
More than twenty-five years ago, Inglehart (1977: 5, 317–21) predicted declining rates of elite-directed political mobilization and rising rates of elite-challenging mass activity among Western publics.
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- Modernization, Cultural Change, and DemocracyThe Human Development Sequence, pp. 115 - 134Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005