Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society

by Ronald Inglehart

Book Overview

Economic, technological, and sociopolitical changes have been transforming the cultures of advanced industrial societies in profoundly important ways during the past few decades. This ambitious work examines changes in religious beliefs, in motives for work, in the issues that give rise to political conflict, in the importance people attach to having children and families, and in attitudes toward divorce, abortion, and homosexuality. Ronald Inglehart's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691022968
• ISBN13: 9780691022963
• Release Date: December 1989
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 504 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Political Culture and Its Effects

The book begins with Inglehart saying (Page 3): "The people of different societies are characterized by enduring differences in basic attitudes, values, and skills: In other words, they have different cultures." In this book, the author explores some of the dimensions of culture and considers how these affect political views and society-as-a-whole. The methodology is a comparative survey research approach, considering the political values in a variety of states throughout the world. One key value is what Inglehart terms the continuum from materialism to postmaterialism. The former speaks to people whose values emphasize material well-being; the latter refers to those who value more self-fulfillment (Maslow's self-actualization, for those familiar with that social scientist). The book pulls together a great deal of material to make the argument that values structure economic growth and politics. Some of his concepts were under heavy criticism from other political scientists (such as postmaterialism). However, the book does what it does pretty well and leads to considerable reflection. This is technically written, with a lot of statistics. Buyer beware.