Dynamics of Values and Modernization: A Quantitative Analysis

Abstract

Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel, the authors of the Human Development Sequence Theory, suggest modernization to be one of the main processes forming the value structures in a population. The current paper investigates the relation between values and modernization applying some elements of the method proposed by Inglehart and Welzel to the data by Shalom Schwartz. The values survey by Schwartz specifies two main value axes, namely Conservation — Openness to Change and Self-Transcendence — Self-Enhancement. Our research has revealed that correlation between these two value axes differs in its direction when estimated for the Western world (including Europe and former settlement colonies of North and South America and Oceania) and the Eastern world (including Asia and Africa). In the Western world there is a significant positive correlation between Openness to Change and Self-Transcendence, while in the Eastern world this correlation is strong, significant, and negative. We investigate the possible impact of modernization on this difference. To do this, we approximate modernization through such indicators as GDP per capita and proportions of labor force employed in various sectors of the economy. We find that in both macro regions modernization is paralleled by increasing Openness to Change. As for the Self-Transcendence — Self-Enhancement axis, we propose two possible explanations of the different dynamics observed in the West and in the East, namely 1) that Eastern and Western societies find themselves at different modernization phases, and 2) different civilizational patterns. Further analysis makes the latter explanation look more plausible.