Postmaterialism

Understanding how people engage in politics, and what motivates them to do so, has been an ongoing concern in the social science literature. Over the past decade, scholarly interest in boycotts and buycotts, which collectively comprise political consumerism—the deliberate purchase or avoidance of products for political or ethical reasons—has increased. However, these activities not been well conceptualized, and it is not clear what motivates people to engage in political consumerism. In this paper, I theorize that postmaterialist values increase the likelihood of engaging in political consumerism in the United States. To test this expectation, I use original, nationally representative U.S. survey data, and I find that postmaterialist values significantly increase the likelihood of engaging in political consumerism, while materialist values not, with controls in place for partisanship, ideology, and other democratic norms.

The materialist-postmaterialist value dimension, understood as assigning priority to self-expression and quality of life as opposed to physical and economic security, has been one of the most important heuristic tools in the analysis of the changes of predominant values in cross-cultural and comparative studies in past decades. In recent elaboration of self-expression and emancipative values (in both cases, with postmaterialism as the most important component), postmaterialist values have been viewed as an essence of democratic political culture and a cultural precondition of effective democracy. This study was aimed at analysing the relation between postmaterialist values (understood as a political-thick culture variable), satisfaction with country's democracy (institutional-thin culture variable) and support for democracy. The data from the European Values Survey (EVS), conducted on the nationally representative samples in twenty East European countries on the total of twenty countries and 30,393 respondents, were used. It is shown that postmaterialism is an important aspect of democratic political culture in Eastern Europe; in general, the most supportive of democracy are postmaterialists. On the other hand, there is a mixed pattern between the postmaterialist values and satisfaction with democracy – in some countries, citizens satisfied with democracy are more prone to choose postmaterialist items compared to the dissatisfied ones, while in some other countries the reverse is true. Both are, however, important predictors of the support for democracy as well as the country's level of democracy development (measured by the EIU Democracy index). The relevance of postmaterialist values for the promotion of democratic political culture in Eastern Europe, possible alternative mechanisms of value change as well as the materialist-postmaterialist conception are discussed.

This book addresses a central dilemma facing efforts to promote environmental sustainability: while environmental challenges including climate change threaten the very fabric of our lives, ambitious efforts to address these rarely resonate with the everyday concerns and ideas most pressing to citizens.  The book analyzes both the opportunities and constraints facing such efforts to promote environmental sustainability. I first theorize an approach to “contested materiality” and then draw upon this to engage values embedded in everyday practices – including land use, automobility, and householding – in affluent postindustrial societies.  The aim is to open up new ways of thinking about property, freedom, and citizenship that might foster a more resonant and expansive political imagination.

There are some key and unique properties of groups concerned with environmental practices in the material flows of everyday life, here called sustainable materialism. These movements embody a range of motivations and discourses, in particular in response to perceptions of the power, injustice, and ecological impact of problematic food systems, energy systems, and various supply chains that provide for everyday needs. Activist conceptions of sustainable materialism are examined, and contrasted with alternative theoretical frameworks of environmental
– and materialist – activism, from postmaterialism, through lifestyle
politics, to sustainable consumption. Sustainable materialist movements are posited as a different and unique category of political movement – one that is based in collective action, sustainable material practices, and prefigurative politics – which cannot be captured by existing theories and frameworks.

Green movements emerged in the prosperous countries of the West during the sixties and spread across the whole world. These movements drew attention to ecological devastation, criticized the modern industrial society and sought to promote ecological and social harmony. Green parties were born as a result of the transformation process of these movements and took place on the political scene. The so-called “Greens” deeply influenced the society and the established political parties as a new and different actor from the eighties onwards.
    In the first section of this study, to understand the green movement, definitions of various terms related to ecology were provided and the historical background of ecological devastation was revealed. It was arranged calendrically, including the works of scientists, philosophers and artists on the topic of “environment”. This section highlighted that, contrary to popular belief, environmental degradation is not a new phenomenon and should not be considered as an issue of modern society; the origins lie far back in time.
    Second section of this study analyzed how a term (ecology) used in science was converted into a political ideology. The attention was focused on the ideology which is formed by the conjunction of new social movements and ecology. By using the guidance of social movement theories and postmaterialism thesis as a key factor, the emergence of green movements and green parties in each European Union (EU) member state were examined. It showed that the postmaterialism thesis and social movement theories developed in the West were not quite satisfactory to explain the green movements and parties in Eastern Europe. The factors that played a role in the emergence of Greens and outcomes thereof, differed for former Eastern Bloc countries. Particular interest was given to the part they had in the fall of regimes (1989) across Eastern Europe and the positions they held in the subsequent process.
    Born out of social movements and subsequently developing into political parties, Greens gained parliamentary representation and participated in governments throughout Europe. In the third section of this study they were reviewed as political actors in the European Parliament; and the transnational European Green Party they formed was analyzed through its historical development, structure, political preferences and relations with and within EU. The change in position towards EU integration was underlined.

后物质主义价值观的操作化，以及常用测量指标是否具备跨国、跨地区可比性，已成为近年来公众意见领域研究的热点问题。本文以全部七次世界价值观调查（1981-2020）为数据源，运用验证性因子分析及多元回归分析，从多个价值维度衡量了后物质主义主要指标的跨情境可比性及其相关变量。分析发现，后物质主义几个常用测量指标并不具备跨时空可比性。指标的跨情境差异，既受到经济发展水平和社会财富分配水平的影响，也存在于不同文化背景之间。上述发现对后物质主义理论的普适性和现存经验研究的方法取向提出了挑战。基于上述发现，笔者主张，后物质主义价值应被视为二战后部分发达国家的特例，其测量方法不宜简单推及其他文化和地区。

Public opinion studies have been paying attention to the operationalization of postmaterialist values and the measurement equivalence across contexts in recent years. The present study analyzes all seven waves of the World Values Survey (1981- 2020) data with confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression to investigate the cross-context comparability of main measurements of postmaterialism. The analysis shows that the commonly used measures of postmaterialism lack cross-context equivalence. The variation is associated with economic development, social inequality and cultural backgrounds. The above findings challenge the universality and generalizability of the postmaterialism theory. The author argues that the value shift towards postmaterialism should be seen as an ad hoc case found only in the post-war advance industrial societies, and the measurements are not generalizable to other cultures and regions.

The postmaterialist thesis makes two claims. First, over time, rising affluence enables many people to substantially satisfy their need for security and economic sustenance, allowing them to focus on pursuing personal autonomy and self-expression. Second, at a given time, wealthier societies, people in higher socio-economic positions, and younger people tend to be more postmaterialistic than are poorer societies, people in lower socio-economic positions, and older people. Preliminary analysis of American, Chinese, and Russian survey data since the late 1980s demonstrates that these generalizations are increasingly difficult to sustain. Intensifying geopolitical rivalries and growing inequality seem to have invigorated feelings of insecurity and nationalistic and conservative ideologies. Postmaterialism seems to be a waning force among major world powers, giving way to increasing nationalism and selective xenophobia.

Recent trends indicate diminishing public engagement with formal electoral politics in many advanced liberal democracies, especially among the younger generations. However, evidence also suggests that there has been a simultaneous interest by many young citizens in political consumerism. In large part, this interest is shaped as a response to the individualisation and strict 'economism' driven by the underlying forces of neoliberalism. Disenfranchised and disillusioned by the seeming incapacity of the purely political sphere to respond to their individualised claims, and having internalised the neoliberal critique of democracy, these young empowered citizen-consumers often search for the 'political' within the bounds of the marketplace and are increasingly attracted to consumerist methods of political participation, such as boycotting and buycotting. Given the susceptibility of political consumerism to a neoliberal modus operandi, the lack of available literature problematising its emergence as a response to neoliberal principles is somewhat surprising. The present article will address this gap by connecting the declining levels of electoral participation among younger generations in post-crisis Europe to the rise of political consumerism within the neoliberal ideological hegemony of the 'marketopoly'. We distinguish between two antithetical, but complimentary effects. Firstly, the internalised neoliberal critique of democracy emphasises the 'push' out of the public into the commercial sphere. Secondly, the emerging individualisation of modern 'liquid' politics advanced by the postmaterialist sensitivities of young people's previously affluent socialisation call attention to the existence of a parallel 'pull' effect into the 'marketopoly', as a habitus of youth political participation. In both cases, the reorganisation of political participation as consumption, and the re-styling of young citizens as 'empowered' consumers, delineates political consumerism as an efficacious response to their political disengagement in an increasingly marketised world.

In reflecting on Dutch Christmas shoppers, this article will discuss Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), postmaterialist values hypothesis, and ecological modernization theory. According to the EKC hypothesis, while at the initial stages of industrialization material resources are often used unsustainably, continuing industrialization leads to a threshold after which lead to progressively more sustainable technologies. According to the postmaterialist values hypothesis, only wealthier societies can ‘afford’ to care about the environment, assuming that wealth will lead to development of greater concern about and valuation of environment. Finally, ecological modernization theory postulates that environmental conditions improve with advanced technological development and suggests that enlightened self-interest, economy and ecology can be favorably combined and that productive use of natural resources can be a source of future growth. In generalizing economic, political and social trends in relation to consumption in The Netherlands, the aim of this article is to consider the consequences of Western-style consumption for the enterprise of global development.

Research on value change and stability tends to underline the importance of generational effects, Inglehart’s theory of post-materialism being an example of this. According to his theory, formative experiences shape the values of each age-cohort, and social change takes place progressively due to the force of generational replacement. This article analyzes survey data covering a wider period of observations than the one Inglehart used to draw his conclusions. By applying time series techniques, I find significant changes within each generation over time. I show how an important adult learning process in the fi eld of post-materialist values has taken place, which has been neglected by the empirical literature. Contrary to Inglehart’s point of view, I conclude that period effects are not just minor short-term infl uences affecting the «normal» change due to generational replacement, but a systematic intracohort trend linked to the European economic prosperity of recent decades.

Resumen: En el presente artículo presentamos algunas de las tesis principales del aceleracionismo entendido como un enfoque postmaterialista que pretende alcanzar la revolución social hacia la emancipación total en un estado postcapitalista a través de la aceleración de los procesos tecnológicos. A su vez, exploraremos en qué medida son herederos, como se autodenominan, del diagnóstico marxiano que reposa en el famoso "Fragmento sobre las máquinas" de los Grundrisse. En último lugar, analizaremos cómo afectaría el posicionamiento aceleracionista a la propia teoría del valor marxiana como núcleo fundamental de su crítica. Palabras clave: aceleracionismo-Marx-fragmento de las máquinas-postcapitalismo-TICs Abstract: In this article we present some of the main theses of accelerationism understood as a postmaterialist approach that seeks to achieve social revolution towards total emancipation in a post-capitalist state through the acceleration of technological processes. In tur...

We propose a novel paradigmatic approach to sentient reality as a whole, with specific application to Information-guided DNA dynamics, leading to a triadic genomic configuration , which accommodates besides the parental hereditary legacy, a transcendental originating highly complex guiding matrix able to control the specific way the protein-synthesis is performed. The Self's own "Soul Genome", transcending the zero point energy interdimensional barrier, couples to the zygote's quantum-governed energetic configuration by way of resonant bands of subtle energy superposition effects at the instance of fertilization, triggered by a Zinc-spark related bio-photonic bridge. Thus , unique secondary torsion parameters in the DNA strands determine the way the basic protein-generating template is read, supplying the new entity's psycho-cognitive particularities along purposeful developmental vectors. 
Keywords: Reincarnation, self, soul, subquantum, subtle energy, DNA, Zinc spark.

The connection between “popular culture” and “ideology” suggested by the main theme of the conference is by no means self-evident.  Both popular culture and ideology are hotly contested concepts, being laid claim to, as they are, from both extremes of the political spectrum.  Moreover, in the course of development of modern society both culture and ideology underwent a significant structural transformation.  It is necessary, therefore, to indicate exactly where one stands, within the contemporary historical and political context, in relation to “popular culture” and “ideology” as well as to their possible relations.  The major theoretical problem today would seem to be whether “popular culture” is to be approached from the point of view of “ideology” or of “fragmentation”.  By the adoption of the critical-hermeneutic approach, I propose to resolve this dilemma by a differentiated interpretation of the theme “popular culture and ideology”: (i) popular culture as fragmentation; (ii) popular culture as the new social movement of our time; and (iii) the new social movement versus the dominant contemporary ideology.

Do new media level the playing field during election campaigns ('equalization') or do they mirror existing inequalities between parties (normal-ization)? Empirical studies come to contradictory findings. Part of the answer is in the timing: first social media level the playing field, afterwards bigger parties see the benefit and invest in it. Yet, this raises a new question: given that social media are cheap and easy to use, how can investing in them tip the balance? Based on a critical assessment of the literature and in-depth interviews, we advance a new theoretical framework to address both contradictions: the motivation-resource-based diffusion model. We link this model to the broader party and campaigning literature and formulate expectations, in terms of party size and ideology, about which parties use social media professionally. Afterwards, we conduct a crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) of the Dutch parties (2010 and 2012 elections) to assess these expectations. We find that populism, postmaterialism, and party size matter but in different ways in the different phases of diffusion.

Critical analysis of Shellenberger and Nordhaus' *Break Through* book.  Originally prepared for edited book that was never published.  An revised and updated version of my analysis of postmaterialism appears as Chapter 3 in Engaging the Everyday.

In this chapter, I examine the role of human values on agenda-setting effects by tackling three different aspects. First, I elaborate on the theoretical and empirical implications of the values-issues consistency hypothesis, which posits that materialist and postmaterialist values moderate the strength of agenda-setting effects (Valenzuela, 2011). Second, I explore the relationship between values and need for orientation, the key psychological process that researchers have used to explain variations in the size of agenda-setting effects. Lastly, I examine the consequences of values in the agenda setting process for the development of attitudes and behaviors among citizens, also known as media priming effects. The ultimate purpose is to open new venues for research on the psychology of agenda setting.

1. IntroductionSince Inglehart's seminal work (Inglehart, 1971), postmaterialist values, understood as assigning priorities to self-expression and quality of life as opposed to physical and economic security, have become a very important heuristic tool in social sciences. In his early work, postmaterialist values were viewed as a main manifestation of value change in advanced societies, main component of democratic political culture and a sort of a cultural precondition of democracy (Inglehart, 1971; 1990; 1997).1In the original model, postmaterialist value change is explained by two hypotheses (Inglehart, 1990). Scarcity hypothesis claims that individual values reflect socio-economic environment - the largest subjective importance is assigned to the most important ungratified needs, in keeping with the principles described in Maslow's theory of human motivation (Maslow, 1954). Material (lower) needs when ungratified take primacy over all other needs, but once satisfied they...

Inglehart's theory of postmaterialism outlines the influence of intergenerational value change on social change. While the sense of security during a formative period is an essential context for postmaterialist values to be bred among the younger generation in democratic states, social protests and political instability are common in some hybrid regimes. Yet how social protests in a hybrid regime interfere in the building of postmaterialism and its association with other value has been underresearched. Based on the data collected from the seventh wave of the World Value Survey in Hong Kong in 2018 (N = 1,031), this paper investigates the role of a critical event-the Umbrella Movement in 2014-in moderating the relationship between a postmaterialist orientation and perceived quality of elections in Hong Kong. It reveals that the negative relationship between a postmaterialist orientation and perceived quality of Hong Kong's election was stronger among the people who supported and participated in the Umbrella Movement. Moreover, the moderation effect of the Umbrella Movement was stronger among young people. This paper underscores the context of socialisation in influencing both a postmaterialist orientation and intergenerational change occurring during a critical event, which sheds light on the relationship between value change and authoritarian resilience.

1971 and 1990 were notable years in political science. The first one saw Inglehart theorize post-materialism, and in the second one, Esping-Andersen developed his applauded typology of the welfare states. Henceforth, many scholars endeavoured to link, correlate, explain the former by the latter and vice-versa. However, there have been few accounts of the relationship that bonds post-materialism with Social investment, this "new paradigm" of welfare policy. That study plans to give its intellectual due to this fascinating phenomenon by filling the empirical gap between the value parameter and Social investment. Hence, it contributes to bridging Inglehart's and Andersen's theories on post-materialism and the welfare state.

Using data from the fifth wave of the World Values Survey, this study
analyzes the origins of postmaterialism and how it might affect people’s
support for environmental protection on the two sides of the Taiwan
Strait. Our empirical results show that the level of postmaterialism in
China is no less than it is in Taiwan. Age and education are two essential
predictors for postmaterialism at the level of individual analysis. Middle
class intellectuals in China are more concerned about postmaterialist
issues than their counterparts in Taiwan. In addition, we find that the
Chinese demonstrate higher levels of support for environmental protection than the Taiwanese do, whereas Chinese postmaterialists are less likely to be concerned about the environment than Taiwanese postmaterialists. Therefore, we suggest a revised version of Inglehart’s hypotheses to explain support for environmental protection. The paper underlines the effect of political institutions on shaping cultural values, in contrast to previous studies that give too much weight to economic development.

Transcendent Mind is a landmark text in the history of western psychology. It is perhaps the first postmaterialist psychology textbook of the 21st century. It offers a rational analysis of theories of consciousness and a rigorous discussion of essentially all the data collected in western science that speak to the possibility of shared mind, and mind without brain. It is data-driven yet open-minded and scholarly, yet accessible. It should be required reading for a new generation of consciousness investigators.
—Leanna J. Standish, PhD, ND, LAc, FABNO, Professor, School of Naturopathic Medicine, Bastyr University, Kenmore, WA; and School of Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle

Few people on the planet can match Imants Barušs and Julia Mossbridge in their familiarity with and understanding of the relevant research and in their perspective to put that research into context. Transcendent Mind stands out among other books on consciousness in its consideration of all the data both for and against various interpretations, and in its rigorous scientific thinking about mind–body interactions.
—Bruce Greyson, MD, Carlson Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville

Here is a breath of clean fresh air for the serious explorer of consciousness. I've waited my whole career for such a book, given to us now by two of the foremost researchers in the field.
—Allan Leslie Combs, PhD, Doshi Professor of Consciousness Studies and Director, Center for Consciousness Studies, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco; President, The Society for Consciousness Studies; author of Consciousness Explained Better: Towards an Integral Understanding of the Multifaceted Nature of Consciousness

In this paper, the author attempts to explain why there is no Green Party in the northern part of Cyprus. Since the public opinion surveys give a blurred picture to the researcher trying to solve the puzzle, the author relies on in-depth qualitative interviews. Findings suggest that the Cyprus problem, economic problems and low trust in the output legitimacy of the system are the main variables to explain Green Party absence in northern Cyprus. The finding on the impact of the belief in the deliverability of the political system on Green Party formation stands out as a proposition that has to be tested in other cases as this has not yet been discussed in new party formation literature.

It is conventionally assumed that the values underlying people’s support for environmentalism are diametrically opposed to those favorable to right wing populism. While this might allow us to assume that recent global climate strike mobilizations fall on the ‘post-materialist’ and ‘progressive’ side of a battle against right wing populism, it is an open question. In order to explain the motivational origins of present climate mobilizations, we refocus attention on the need to bridge macro-historical theories on patterns of contention in Western democracies with micro-sociological ones. Employing new data from protest surveys of Fridays for Future (FFF) Global Climate Strike demonstrations that took place in Germany in 2019, we test whether the motivations of these protestors adhere to models of post-materialism either in terms of their concerns or their political engagement attitudes, and whether these motivational factors differ between younger and older generational cohorts. Our results suggest that the motivations underlying recent climate mobilizations should not be typified as post-materialist. FFF protestors expressed high levels of materialist concern and they did not view expressive or extra-institutional forms of engagement as more capable than institutional ones to bring about political change. Although the younger cohort was less disillusioned with both “protest politics” and conventional politics than adults, few indicators distinguish the youth and adult groups. Notably, the groups held in common the demand for greater scientific leadership on climate policy, rather than for greater direct democracy. This study affirms the need to avoid treating environmental movements as ideologically uniform and the importance of assessing configurations of motivational factors in mobilization. Keywords: protest; environmental movement; post-materialism and cultural value change; global climate strike; Fridays for Future; populism

O advento das questões pós-materialistas foi um dos principais fatores que colocou em debate a validade dos conceitos esquerda e direita como sistema classificatório de posicionamentos políticos. Desse modo, a dicotomia esquerda-direita segue fazendo sentido no contexto das discussões ambientais contemporâneas? Através de pesquisa bibliográfica, verifica-se que sim, pois as visões de mundo têm forte impacto sobre a crença ou o ceticismo em relação ao consenso científico acerca da crise ambiental, e tanto cidadãos como partidos de esquerda têm maior abertura à causa ecológica. Não obstante, nota-se a existência de visões substancialmente diferentes em relação à temática ambiental no interior do espectro político da esquerda. Essa diferença, que denominamos clivagem ambiental na esquerda, se dá a partir de entendimentos antagônicos sobre o conceito de desenvolvimento: parte da esquerda defende um desenvolvimento alternativo, apostando no crescimento econômico e no papel do Estado como indutor da economia, e parte entende que o desenvolvimento é um dos dispositivos-chave do capitalismo e incompatível com o combate à pobreza e com a preservação ambiental.

RESUMEN El advenimiento de las cuestiones post-materialistas ha sido uno de los factores principales que han puesto en discusión la validez de los conceptos izquierda y derecha como un sistema de clasificación de posiciones políticas. De esta manera, ¿la dicotomía izquierda-derecha sigue teniendo sentido en el contexto de las discusiones ambientales contemporáneas? A través de la investigación bibliográfica, se verifica que sí, porque las visiones del mundo tienen un fuerte impacto en las creencias o el escepticismo con respecto al consenso científico sobre la crisis ambiental, y tanto los ciudadanos como los partidos de izquierda tienen una mayor apertura a la causa ecológica. Sin embargo, se puede observar la existencia de puntos de vista muy diferentes en relación con el tema ambiental dentro del espectro político de la izquierda. Esta diferencia, que llamamos clivaje ambiental en la izquierda, se basa en entendimientos antagónicos sobre el concepto de desarrollo: parte de la izquierda aboga por un desarrollo alternativo, apostando por el crecimiento económico y el papel del Estado como inductor de la economía, y parte entiende que el desarrollo es uno de los dispositivos clave del capitalismo e incompatible con el combate a la pobreza y con la preservación del medio ambiente.

ABSTRACT The advent of post-materialist questions was one of the main factors that evidenced the debate on the validity of the concepts of left and right as a classification system of political positions. In this way, does the left-right dichotomy  continue  to  make  sense  in  the  context  of  contemporary  environmental  discussions?  Through bibliographic  research, this  study  verified  that yes,  since  world  views  have  a  strong  impact  on  belief  or skepticism  regarding  the  scientific  consensus  on  the  environmental  crisis,  and  both  citizens  and  leftist  parties have greater openness to the ecological cause. Nonetheless, results also indicated the existence of visions that are substantially  different  in  relation  to  the  environmental  theme  within  the  political  spectrum  of  the  left.  This difference,  which  is  this  study  is  called  environmental  cleavage  on  the  left,  is  based  on  antagonistic understandings about the concept of development: part of the left advocates an alternative development, betting on  economic  growth  and  on  the  role  of  the  State  as  an  promoter  of  economy,  and  other  part  understands  that development is one of the key devices of capitalism and, therefore, is incompatible with the fight against poverty and the environmental preservation.

The Ronald Inglehart’s post-materialism theory is an important theoretical and empirical tool for understanding modern post-industrial societies. It has been the base of new social movements and new parties and has also been shaped the agenda of traditional parties, toward environmental protection policies. Based on a comparative analysis of four countries, the present study argues that there is a connection of post-materialism, through environmentalism with vote for Green parties, as reflected in its final conclusions. At the same time, it was necessary to outline the socio-demographic and ideological characteristics of environmentalists and green voters. This analysis highlights aspects of the theoretical model.

Domestic theories of democratization emphasize the role of values, interests and mobilization/opportunities as determinants of regime change. This paper takes a step back and develops a model of national personality and democratization to ascertain the indirect effect of national personality traits on worldwide variation of regime type. In particular, I theorize that personality traits influence a country's regime type by shaping citizens' traditional and self-expression values, which, in turn, influence the establishment and consolidation of democratic institutions. Data from McCrae et al.'s (2005a) assessment of the Five Factor Model from 47 countries allows me to assess this hypothesis empirically. Results reveal that countries whose societies are high in Openness to experience tend to have more democratic institutions, even after adjusting for relevant confounders: economic inequalities, economic development, technological advancement, disease stress, climate demands, and methodological characteristics of the national sample. While the effect of Extraversion on a country's democratic institutions is also significantly positive, the inclusion of confounders weakens the reliability of this association. In an exploration of the mechanisms of these associations, a mediation analysis shows that the relationship between national Openness and democratic institutions is channeled through secular and, especially self-expression national values. The same analysis with the effect of Extraversion on democracy indicates that the association between this trait and democracy is only channeled through national self-expression values, but not national secular values. In short, this paper constitutes a first step toward a more complete understanding of the cross-cultural psychological roots of political institutions.

A growing body of scholarship examines the social and personal benefits of volunteering across the life course. However, less is known about how this experience of volunteering varies across different national contexts and how the impact of volunteering is shaped by micro- and macro-conditions. This article utilizes a cross-national multilevel regression analysis of European Values Survey data to explore the benefits of volunteering for two distinct sets of aging populations in the EU: those identified as “materialists” and “postmaterialists.” It finds that a positive association between volunteering and one key indicator of quality of life (“control over life”) generally exists for postmaterialists, while it is more positive in countries with stronger familial norms among materialists. Hence, the role of volunteering in later life is not as uniform as suggested by the active aging approach.

Commentary on the ethical issues involved in Amanda Gorman's decisions on the translators for her poem "The Hill We Climb" and the reactions published in the press. https://eapc-rld.blog.gencat.cat/2021/03/25/la-veu-de-la-paciencia-puja-un-altre-turo-la-traduccio-i-la-representacio-damanda-gorman-esther-monzo-nebot/

During the last few decades we could experience the rise of environmental consciousness and a higher priority for environmental protection. The cause of the growing importance of environmentalism is partly a general change in values and also the fact, that since the early 1960s a number of problems have been recognized (e.g. ozone depletion, deforestation, excess waste, acid rain, etc.), which all derived from the modern societies' impact on the natural environment. Growing concern for ecological issues is one thing and environment friendly behavior is another. Numerous researches examined the incongruence between attitudes and behavior, a lot did it especially in the field of environment protection, but just a few worked on huge international samples. The databases of the WVS allow us to make international comparisons in the analyses of connections between proenvironmental attitudes and proenvironmental activity, which is the aim of this paper. Using WVS as data source has a disadvantage for us, as its questionnaires are very complex, deal with a lot of value domains, because of which they contain only few environment related questions. In the first section of the paper we define the concepts we use, show the methodology of measuring these phenomena and summarize the results of some empirical researches related to them. In the second part we outline our hypotheses and present the variables we applied. The third section provides a short review of economic and environmental performance of the analyzed countries describes the history of environmentalism in them and discusses the data. The final section concludes.

This paper is aimed at analysing the level of postmaterialist values in East European countries as well as the main individual and country level predictors of the postmaterialist value preference. The data from the World Values Survey (WVS) and the European Values Survey (EVS), conducted on the nationally representative samples in the period from 1990 to 2008, were used. The main analysis was performed on the data from the fourth wave of EVS (2008/2010), on the total of twenty countries and 30,393 respondents. A number of individual (age, education, income level, size of town, economic hardship in formative years) as well as country level variables (inflation and unemployment rate, Human Development Index and GINI index values) were used. The results have shown that the level of postmaterialist values in Eastern Europe, measured by the standard four-item index, is relatively low and relatively stable in the period 1990–2008. Younger, urban and more educated respondents as well as the citizens from more developed and economically stable East European nations are more inclined towards postmaterialism. The significance of the current socioeconomic conditions for the variation in postmaterialism as well as the insignificance of economic security during the formative period of political maturation calls into question the assumptions of Inglehart's original model. The possible alternative mechanisms of value change as well as of the (post)materialist conception are discussed.