Measuring Value Change in Western Industrialized Societies: The Impact of Unemployment

Abstract

During the past two decades a four-item battery administered in biannual Euro-Barometer surveys has been used to measure changing value priorities in Western European countries. We provide evidence that the measure is seriously flawed. Pooled cross-sectional time series analyses for the 1976–86 period reveal that the Euro-Barometer postmaterialist-materialist value index and two of its components are very sensitive to short-term changes in economic conditions, and that the failure to include a statement about unemployment in the four-item values battery accounts for much of the apparent growth of postmaterialist values in several countries after 1980. The aggregate-level findings are buttressed by analyses of panel data from three countries.

The Preadult Origins of Post-Materialism: A Longitudinal Sibling Study

“…Duch & Taylor (1993) and Warwick (1998), for instance, argue that the two items 'giving people more say in important government decisions' and 'protecting freedom of speech' do not tap democratic values but rather postmaterialism. Clarke & Dutt (1991), for instance, criticizes that the sensitivity of the item 'fighting rising prices' to actual inflation and unemployment rates predisposes it to failure as a measure of time-invariant value preferences. Other researchers have questioned the choice of a ranking instead of a rating format (e.g., van Deth 1983b).…”

Political consequences of religiosity, post-materialism and ethno-nationalist attitudes in Netherlands

“…The implication is that the authors who emphasized the sensitivity of the PM index to short-term socio-economic fluctuations, may be correct (Clarke and Dutt, 1991). Post-materialists do not appear particularly interested in conventional party politics.…”

Overstating Value Change: Question Ordering in the Postmaterial Values Index

“…Some of Inglehart's claims regarding intergenerational values shift are based on data from the World Values Surveys (WVS), administered in 1981-1991-1998-2000(European Values Study Group and World Values Survey Association, 2006. In the first WVS, Inglehart employed the four-item values battery, where respondents were asked to choose the most important and second most important national goals from the following list:…”

“…However, Inglehart's value change thesis has been criticized on several fronts, particularly in relation to the validity of his conception of material-postmaterial values and the measurement of the four-item index (e.g. Jagodzinski, 1982;Flanagan, 1982a,b;1987;Clarke and Dutt, 1991;Taylor, 1993, 1994;Bean and Papadakis, 1994;Brown and Carmines, 1995;Clarke, Dutt and Rapkin, 1997;Davis and Davenport, 1999;Clarke et al, 1999;Clarke, 2000;Moors and Vermunt, 2007).…”

“…For example, Clarke and Dutt (1991) maintain high unemployment leads to higher levels of postmaterial values, rather than the reductions posited by the values change thesis, while Inglehart's short index measures pro-democratic orientations according to Duch and Taylor (1993). Flanagan (1982a) lists several problems with the short index.…”