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

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  • Clarke, Harold D.
  • Kornberg, Allan
  • McIntyre, Chris
  • Bauer-Kaase, Petra
  • Kaase, Max

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Clarke, Harold D. & Kornberg, Allan & McIntyre, Chris & Bauer-Kaase, Petra & Kaase, Max, 1999. "The Effect of Economic Priorities on the Measurement of Value Change: New Experimental Evidence," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 93(3), pages 637-647, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:93:y:1999:i:03:p:637-647_21
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    Cited by:

    1. van Hoorn, André, 2014. "Individualism and the cultural roots of management practices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 53-68.
    2. Andrew Knight, 2007. "Do Worldviews Matter? Post-materialist, Environmental, and Scientific/Technological Worldviews and Support for Agricultural Biotechnology Applications," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(8), pages 1047-1063, December.
    3. Bruce Tranter, 2015. "The Impact of Political Context on the Measurement of Postmaterial Values," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(2), pages 21582440155, June.
    4. Oliver Hansen & Richard S.J. Tol, 2003. "A Refined Inglehart Index Of Materialism And Postmaterialism," Working Papers FNU-35, Research unit Sustainability and Global Change, Hamburg University, revised Oct 2003.
    5. Jan Delhey, 2010. "From Materialist to Post-Materialist Happiness? National Affluence and Determinants of Life Satisfaction in Cross-National Perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 97(1), pages 65-84, May.
    6. Zoran Pavlović & Bojan Todosijević, 2020. "Global cultural zones the empirical way: value structure of cultural zones and their relationship with democracy and the communist past," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 603-622, April.

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