THE RISE OF POSTMATERIALIST VALUES AND CHANGING RELIGIOUS ORIENTATIONS, GENDER ROLES AND SEXUAL NORMS

This article investigates the relationship between Materialistand Postmaterialist values, and attitudes towards religiousand social norms as well as behavioral indicators in industrialsocieties. It focusses on the question whether Postmaterialistvalues—indicated through a greater emphasis on such goalsas self-expression, quality of life and belonging—arerelated to a decline of traditional orientations. The empiricalpart is based on the data of a unique cross-national dataset,the World Values Survey 1981–1982, which compares religiousand moral beliefs of populations of sixteen countries with variouspolitical, cultural and ethnic characteristics. It also takesinto account behavioral indicators related to these norms, e.g.birth and divorce rates in these countries. According to theresults, Post-materialist values are closely related to a declineof traditional values. There also exist strong linkages betweenindividual-level values and the actual behavior of the peoplesin the given societies. But besides their detachment from traditionalreligion, Postmaterialists are significantly more likely thanMaterialists to spend time thinking about the meaning of lifeand, thus, may even have more potential interest in religion.     

西方政治文化理论的衰落与复兴

西方政治文化理论在经历了50年代至70年代初的初创和繁荣期后,因遭到来自理性选择理论和西方马克思主义等方面的批评而走向衰落.它被指责为片面、保守、僵化,低估了社会结构和权力结构的作用,不具有解释力和预见性等.然而自80年代中期起,由于发达工业社会文化因素的上升以及非西方国家多元文化模式的凸显,理性选择理论陷入窘境,西方马克思主义走向衰落,政治文化理论重又获得生机并走向新的繁荣.