IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/wzbisi/spi2003201.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Postindustrialism and postmaterialism? A critical view of the new economy, the information age, the high tech society and all that

Author

Listed:
  • Wilensky, Harold L.

Abstract

The theory of postindustrial society and postmaterialist culture can explain neither the structural uniformities of modern society captured by convergence theory nor the national differences captured by theories of democratic corporatism and the mass society. Its depiction of structural changes is superficial: the service sector is too heterogeneous to describe occupational and industrial trends; the idea of technocratic dominance is overblown and misses big national differences in the location and role of experts and intellectuals. As for postindustrial values, they apply to a small population, a minority even of college students. That these attitudes fluctuate so much with shifting economic conditions and political agendas casts doubt on the idea of a basic shift toward 'postmaterial values'. The literature documenting such shifts is plagued with problems of survey validity. It goes up against a heavy weight of evidence showing that older issues of security, equality, civic order and crime, economic growth and stability are dominant in the politics and mentality of modern populations; that cohort effects are weak to non-existent; that political generational effects are rare and soon fade away; that family life cycle, if carefully delineated, has an impact across a wide range of attitudes and behavior. Most important, differences in national mobilizing structures shape both mass and elite responses to the dilemmas and problems of modern life. Assessing related images of modern society - 'the information age', the 'high-tech society' - the paper finds these equally misleading. This paper is based on chs. 1 and 4 of H.L. Wilensky, Rich Democracies: Political Economy, Public Policy, and Performance (University of California Press, 2002).

Suggested Citation

  • Wilensky, Harold L., 2003. "Postindustrialism and postmaterialism? A critical view of the new economy, the information age, the high tech society and all that," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Inequality and Social Integration SP I 2003-201, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbisi:spi2003201
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/44130/1/372952283.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Inglehart, Ronald & Abramson, Paul R., 1994. "Economic Security and Value Change," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 88(2), pages 336-354, June.
    2. Harriet Presser, 1995. "Job, family, and gender: Determinants of nonstandard work schedules among employed Americans in 1991," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 32(4), pages 577-598, November.
    3. David G. Blanchflower & Richard B. Freeman, 1997. "The Attitudinal Legacy of Communist Labor Relations," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 50(3), pages 438-459, April.
    4. Clarke, Harold D. & Dutt, Nitish, 1991. "Measuring Value Change in Western Industrialized Societies: The Impact of Unemployment," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(3), pages 905-920, September.
    5. Citrin, Jack & Green, Donald Philip, 1986. "Presidential Leadership and the Resurgence of Trust in Government," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(4), pages 431-453, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bruce Tranter, 2015. "The Impact of Political Context on the Measurement of Postmaterial Values," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(2), pages 21582440155, June.
    2. repec:diw:diwwpp:dp797 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Robert Giacalone & Carole Jurkiewicz & Stephen Knouse, 2012. "The Ethical Aftermath of a Values Revolution: Theoretical Bases of Change, Recalibration, and Principalization," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 333-343, October.
    4. Martin Kroh, 2008. "The Preadult Origins of Post-Materialism: A Longitudinal Sibling Study," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 101, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    5. Checchi, Daniele & Visser, Jelle & van de Werfhorst, Herman G., 2007. "Inequality and Union Membership: The Impact of Relative Earnings Position and Inequality Attitudes," IZA Discussion Papers 2691, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Marija Džunić & Nataša Golubović & Srđan Marinković, 2020. "Determinants Of Institutional Trust In Transition Economies: Lessons From Serbia," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 65(225), pages 135-162, April – J.
    7. Nicolas R. Ziebarth & Gert G. Wagner, 2013. "Top-down v. Bottom-up: The Long-Term Impact of Government Ideology and Personal Experience on Values," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1280, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    8. Jason Wei Jian Ng & Santha Vaithilingam & Grace H. Y. Lee & Gary J. Rangel, 2022. "Life Satisfaction and Incumbent Voting: Examining the Mediating Effect of Trust in Government," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 2947-2967, August.
    9. Blanchflower, David G., 2000. "Self-employment in OECD countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 471-505, September.
    10. Blanchflower, David G. & Saleheen, Jumana & Shadforth, Chris, 2007. "The Impact of the Recent Migration from Eastern Europe on the UK Economy," IZA Discussion Papers 2615, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Ceema Namazie & Peter Sanfey, 2001. "Happiness and Transition: the Case of Kyrgyzstan," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(3), pages 392-405, October.
    12. Georgellis, Yannis & Lange, Thomas, 2009. "Are Union Members Happy Workers after All? Evidence from Eastern and Western European Labor Markets," MPRA Paper 17020, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Andreas Kuhn, 2017. "International Evidence on the Perception and Normative Valuation of Executive Compensation," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(1), pages 112-136, March.
    14. Robert J. Shiller, 1997. "Why Do People Dislike Inflation?," NBER Chapters, in: Reducing Inflation: Motivation and Strategy, pages 13-70, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Lelkes, Orsolya, 2006. "Tasting freedom: Happiness, religion and economic transition," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 173-194, February.
    16. Kazeminia, Azadeh & Hultman, Magnus & Mostaghel, Rana, 2016. "Why pay more for sustainable services? The case of ecotourism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 4992-4997.
    17. John W Helsel & Venktesh Pandey & Stephen D. Boyles, 2020. "Time-Equitable Dynamic Tolling Scheme For Single Bottlenecks," Papers 2007.07091, arXiv.org.
    18. Robert Rohrschneider, 1993. "Impact of Social Movements on European Party Systems," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 528(1), pages 157-170, July.
    19. Lenahan O'Connell, 2008. "Exploring the Social Roots of Smart Growth Policy Adoption by Cities," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1356-1372, December.
    20. Andrew E. Clark, 2005. "Your Money or Your Life: Changing Job Quality in OECD Countries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 43(3), pages 377-400, September.
    21. Aldas Kriauciunas & Prashant Kale, 2002. "The Impact of Socialist Imprinting and Search for Knowledge on Resource Change: An Empirical Study of Firms in Lithuania," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 446, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbisi:spi2003201. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/uswzbde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.