MATERIALISM VERSUS POST-MATERIALISM, POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF TOCQUEVILLE’S IDEA
Keywords:
Democracy, materialism, post-materialism, Tocqueville, political participation
Abstract
Tocqueville suggested that materialism may result in a lower level of political participation and lower support for democracy. In this study, using the joint dataset of the World Values Survey (WVS) and the European Values Study (EVS) 2017-2020, we examine the influence of materialism/post-materialism on people’s support for democracy. From a hierarchical linear model, our results indicate that materialism against post-materialism is associated with a lower level of support for democracy, which supports Tocqueville’s theory. Furthermore, using causal mediation analysis, we find that political participation mediates 9.92% of the effect of materialism/post-materialism on support for democracy. Our results show that materialism/post-materialism is an important determinant to people’s support for democracy. Political participation is an important mechanism for the association between materialism/post-materialism and support for democracy.
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References
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Woody, E. (2011). An SEM perspective on evaluating mediation: What every clinical researcher needs to know. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 2(2), 210-251.
Woolcock, M. (2010). The rise and routinization of social capital, 1988–2008. Annual review of political science, 13, 469-487.
Aidt, T. S. (2016). Rent seeking and the economics of corruption. Constitutional Political Economy, 27(2), 142-157.
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of personality and social psychology, 51(6), 1173.
Bell, D. (2019). The coming of post-industrial society. Routledge.
Ben-Nun Bloom, P., & Arikan, G. (2012). A two-edged sword: The differential effect of religious belief and religious social context on attitudes towards democracy. Political behavior, 34(2), 249-276.
Cantijoch, M., & San Martin, J. (2009). Postmaterialism and political participation in Spain. South European Society and Politics, 14(2), 167-190.
Chang, W.-C. (2021). Media use, political trust and attitude toward direct democracy: empirical evidence from Taiwan. Online Information Review.
Ciftci, S. (2010). Modernization, Islam, or social capital: what explains attitudes toward democracy in the Muslim world? Comparative Political Studies, 43(11), 1442-1470.
Copeland, L. (2014). Value change and political action: Postmaterialism, political consumerism, and political participation. American Politics Research, 42(2), 257-282.
Cordero, G., & Simón, P. (2016). Economic crisis and support for democracy in Europe. West European Politics, 39(2), 305-325.
De Tocqueville, A. (2015). Democracy in America-Vol. I. and II. Read Books Ltd.
Diamond, L. (2016). Democracy in decline: how Washington can reverse the tide. Foreign Aff., 95, 151.
Dowley, K. M., & Silver, B. D. (2002). Social capital, ethnicity and support for democracy in the post-communist states. Europe-Asia Studies, 54(4), 505-527.
Fernandez, K. E., & Kuenzi, M. (2010). Crime and support for democracy in Africa and Latin America. Political Studies, 58(3), 450-471.
Hahn, J. W., & Logvinenko, I. (2008). Generational differences in Russian attitudes towards democracy and the economy. Europe-Asia Studies, 60(8), 1345-1369.
Henn, M., Sloam, J., & Nunes, A. (2021). Young cosmopolitans and environmental politics: How postmaterialist values inform and shape youth engagement in environmental politics. Journal of Youth Studies, 1-21.
House, F. (2022). Freedom in the World 2022: The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule. https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2022-02/FIW_2022_PDF_Booklet_Digital_Final_Web.pdf
Hultman, M., Kazeminia, A., & Ghasemi, V. (2015). Intention to visit and willingness to pay premium for ecotourism: The impact of attitude, materialism, and motivation. Journal of Business Research, 68(9), 1854-1861.
Hurst, M., Dittmar, H., Bond, R., & Kasser, T. (2013). The relationship between materialistic values and environmental attitudes and behaviors: A meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 36, 257-269.
Imai, K., Keele, L., & Tingley, D. (2010). A general approach to causal mediation analysis. Psychological methods, 15(4), 309.
Imai, K., Keele, L., & Yamamoto, T. (2010). Identification, inference and sensitivity analysis for causal mediation effects. Statistical science, 25(1), 51-71.
Inglehart, R. (1981). Post-materialism in an environment of insecurity. American political science review, 75(4), 880-900.
Inglehart, R. (2015). The silent revolution. Princeton University Press.
Kang, W. (2015). Inequality, the welfare system and satisfaction with democracy in South Korea. International Political Science Review, 36(5), 493-509.
Kilbourne, W., & Pickett, G. (2008). How materialism affects environmental beliefs, concern, and environmentally responsible behavior. Journal of Business Research, 61(9), 885-893.
Long, A., & Ascent, D. (2020). World economic outlook. International Monetary Fund.
Magalhães, P. C. (2014). Government effectiveness and support for democracy. European Journal of Political Research, 53(1), 77-97.
Marien, S., & Hooghe, M. (2011). Does political trust matter? An empirical investigation into the relation between political trust and support for law compliance. European Journal of Political Research, 50(2), 267-291.
Mazower, M. (2009). Dark continent: Europe's twentieth century. Vintage.
McLeod, M. S., Jack M. (2001). Values, communication behavior, and political participation. Political communication, 18(3), 273-300.
Muhtadi, B., & Warburton, E. (2020). Inequality and democratic support in Indonesia. Pacific Affairs, 93(1), 31-58.
Nur-tegin, K. (2021). Social capital–a topsoil for democracy. Review of Social Economy, 79(2), 166-190.
Paloniemi, R., & Vainio, A. (2011). Why do young people participate in environmental political action? Environmental Values, 20(3), 397-416.
Pavlović, Z. (2016). (Post) materialism, satisfaction with democracy and support for democracy in Eastern Europe. European Quarterly of Political Attitudes and Mentalities, 5(3), 41-55.
Paxton, P. (2002). Social capital and democracy: An interdependent relationship. American sociological review, 254-277.
Pearl, J. (2014). Interpretation and identification of causal mediation. Psychological methods, 19(4), 459.
Pinker, S. (2018). Enlightenment now: The case for reason, science, humanism, and progress. Penguin UK.
Roets, A., Van Hiel, A., & Cornelis, I. (2006). Does materialism predict racism? Materialism as a distinctive social attitude and a predictor of prejudice. European Journal of Personality, 20(2), 155-168.
Salonen, A. O., & Åhlberg, M. (2013). Towards sustainable society: from materialism to post-materialism. International Journal of Sustainable Society, 5(4), 374-393.
Schäfer, A. (2012). Consequences of social inequality for democracy in Western Europe. Zeitschrift für vergleichende Politikwissenschaft, 6(2), 23-45.
Schonfeld, I. S., & Rindskopf, D. (2007). Hierarchical linear modeling in organizational research: Longitudinal data outside the context of growth modeling. Organizational Research Methods, 10(3), 417-429.
Sreen, N., Purbey, S., & Sadarangani, P. (2020). Understanding the relationship between different facets of materialism and attitude toward green products. Journal of Global Marketing, 33(5), 396-416.
Theocharis, Y. (2011). Young people, political participation and online postmaterialism in Greece. New Media & Society, 13(2), 203-223.
Tingley, D., Yamamoto, T., Hirose, K., Keele, L., & Imai, K. (2014). Mediation: R package for causal mediation analysis.
Torlak, O., & Koc, U. (2007). Materialistic attitude as an antecedent of organizational citizenship behavior. Management Research News.
Van der Eijk, C., & Van Egmond, M. (2007). Political effects of low turnout in national and European elections. Electoral Studies, 26(3), 561-573.
Watson, D. C. (2015). Materialism and the five-factor model of personality: a facet-level analysis. North American Journal of Psychology, 17(1).
Wong, K.-Y., & Wan, P.-S. (2009). New evidence of the postmaterialist shift: The experience of Hong Kong. Social Indicators Research, 92(3), 497-515.
Woody, E. (2011). An SEM perspective on evaluating mediation: What every clinical researcher needs to know. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 2(2), 210-251.
Woolcock, M. (2010). The rise and routinization of social capital, 1988–2008. Annual review of political science, 13, 469-487.
Published
2022-11-30
How to Cite
Liu, Y., & Lihe, S. (2022). MATERIALISM VERSUS POST-MATERIALISM, POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF TOCQUEVILLE’S IDEA. Journal of Social Political Sciences, 3(4), 332-355. https://doi.org/10.52166/jsps.v3i4.129
Section
Articles
Copyright (c) 2022 Yongbo Liu
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
