Industrial employment and secular values: A comparative analysis of seven waves of the WVS

This article examines industrial employment as an independent channel for the influence of economic structure on values. Unlike Inglehart and Welzel’s cultural theory of modernization, which focuses on GDP growth and existential security, we propose an additional, organizational-logical channel for the influence of economic change on cultural change, linked to the micro-contexts of the workplace. Using data from seven waves of the World Values ​ ​Survey (WVS) from 1981 to 2022, we reproduce C. Welzel’s secular values ​ ​index, supplementing it with indicators of the share of people employed in the industrial and manufacturing sectors. Fixed-effects regression models show a robust positive relationship between industrial employment and secular values, even after accounting for the logarithm of GDP per capita in PPP and the polyarchy index. No such relationship is found for emancipatory values. We interpret this as evidence that industrial micro-contexts primarily secularize power, but do not necessarily strengthen orientations toward autonomy. The sectoral structure of employment thus complements the standard emphasis on developmental level in explaining cultural differences.