Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T01:22:44.290Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Effect of Economic Priorities on the Measurement of Value Change: New Experimental Evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Harold D. Clarke ,
Allan Kornberg ,
Chris McIntyre ,
Petra Bauer-Kaase  and
Max Kaase
Harold D. Clarke
Affiliation:
University of North Texas
Allan Kornberg
Affiliation:
Duke University
Chris McIntyre
Affiliation:
Endicott College
Petra Bauer-Kaase
Affiliation:
Wissenschaftszentrum
Max Kaase
Affiliation:
Wissenschaftszentrum
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Euro-Barometer values battery has provided much of the empirical evidence for the thesis that a shift from materialist to postmaterialist values has occurred in advanced industrial societies over the past two decades. It has been argued, however, that this widely used instrument is seriously flawed because of its sensitivity to current economic conditions. We present data from experiments in Canada and Germany that tested the performance of the values battery in an era of joblessness. Analyses reveal that (1) substituting an unemployment statement for the standard inflation statement in the battery has major consequences for the classification of respondents as materialist or postmaterialist and (2) answers to the battery are conditioned by the interaction between its content and respondents' economic issue concerns. These findings support the argument that much of the shift from materialist to postmaterialist values recorded by the Euro-Barometer since the early 1980s is a measurement artifact.

Type
Forum
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 93 , Issue 3 , September 1999 , pp. 637 - 647
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. 1992. “Generational Replacement and Value Change in Eight West European Societies.” British Journal of Political Science 22 (April): 183–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abramson, Paul R., and Inglehart, Ronald. 1995. Value Change in Global Perspective. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauer-Kaase, Petra, and Kaase, Max. 1998. “Werte und Wertewandel-ein altes Thema und eine neue Facette.” In Empirische Forschung und Wirtschaftspolitische Beratung, ed. Galler, Heinz P. and Wagner, Gert. Frankfurt/New York: Campus. Pp. 256–74.Google Scholar
Bell, David, and Tepperman, Lorne. 1979. The Roots of Disunity: A Look at Canadian Political Culture. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.Google Scholar
Boeltken, Ferdinand, and Jagodzinski, Wolfgang. 1985. “In an Environment of Insecurity: Postmaterialism in the European Community, 1970–1980.” Comparative Political Studies 17 (January): 453–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, 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. 1997a. “Conversations in Context: The (Mis)Measurement of Value Change in Advanced Industrial Societies.” Political Behavior 19 (March): 19–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, Harold D., Dutt, Nitish, and Rapkin, Jonathan. 1997b. “(Mis)Measuring Value Change: A Brief Postscript.” Political Behavior 19 (March): 61–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Darren W. N.d. “Individual-Level Examination of Postmaterialism in the U.S.: Political Tolerance, Racial Attitudes, Environmentalism, and Participatory Norms.” Political Research Quarterly. Forthcoming.Google 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
DeBoef, Susanna, and Granato, Jim. 1997. “Near-Integrated Data and the Analysis of Political Relationships.” American Journal of Political Science 41 (April): 619–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duch, Raymond M., and Taylor, Michaell A. 1993. “Postmaterialism and the Economic Condition.” American Journal of Political Science 37 (August): 747–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duch, Raymond M., and Taylor, Michaell A. 1994. “A Reply to Abramson and Inglehart's ‘Education, Security and Postmaterialism.’” American Journal of Political Science 38 (August): 815–24.CrossRefGoogle 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. 1997. Modernization and Postmodemization: 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, Nevitte, Neil, and Basañez, Miguel. 1996. The North American Trajectory: Social Institutions and Social Change. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Long, J. Scott. 1997. Regression Models for Categorical and Limited Dependent Variables. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Nevitte, Neil. 1996. The Decline of Deference: Canadian Value Change in Cross-National Perspective. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, Mildred A. 1974. Politics and Territory: The Politics of Regional Persistence in Canada. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
Sniderman, Paul M. 1993. “The New Look in Public Opinion Research.” In Political Science: The State of the Discipline II, ed. Finifter, Ada W.Washington, DC: American Political Science Association. Pp. 219–45.Google Scholar
Sniderman, Paul M., Brody, Richard A., and Tetlock, Philip E. 1991 Reasoning and Choice: Explorations in Political Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zaller, John. 1992. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zaller, John, and Feldman, Stanley. 1992. “A Simple Theory of the Survey Response: Answering Questions vs. Revealing Preferences.” American Journal of Political Science 36 (August): 579–616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.