Essays

As a useful tool in developing an understanding of modern culture, the concept of post-materialism can be considered in reference of three distinct concepts of materialism—ontological, existentialistic, and ethical or political-sociological. However, the word 'post-materialism' is most often used to refer to materialism as a values system relating to the desire for fulfillment of material needs such as security, sustenance and shelter. Another referent is the historical and dialectic materialism by Marx and Engels. The philosophical definition of materialism concerns the philosophical argument that matter is the only existing reality.

Ronald Inglehart is credited with developing the sociological theory of post-materialism. In the seventies, after extensive survey research, Inglehart postulated that the Western societies under the scope of his survey were undergoing transformation of individual values, switching from materialist values, emphasizing economic and physical security, to a new set of post-materialist values, which instead emphasized autonomy and self expression. He argued that rising prosperity was gradually liberating the publics of advanced industrial societies from the stress of basic acquisitive or materialistic needs.

Ingleharl observed that the younger people were much more likely to embrace post materialist values. He speculated that this silent revolution was not merely a case of a life-cycle change, with people becoming more materialist as they aged, but a genuine example of intergenerational value change. The theory of intergenerational change is based on two key hypotheses, the Scarcity hypothesis and the Socialisation hypothesis.

For his Scarcity hypothesis, Inglehart assumed that individuals pursue various goals in something akin to a hierarchical order. While people may universally aspire to freedom and autonomy, the most pressing material needs like hunger, thirst and physical security have to be satisfied first, since they are immediately linked with survival. Once the satisfaction of the survival needs can be taken for granted, the focus will gradually shift to 'non-material' goals like belonging, esteem, and aesthetic and intellectual satisfaction. Thus, according to Inglehart's interpretation of Maslow's hierarchy of human goals, as long as scarcity prevails, the materialistic goods will have priority over post-materialist goals.

Socialization hypothesis considers the relationship between material conditions and value priorities as not one of immediate adjustment. There is a substantial evidence to indicate that people's basic values are largely fixed when they reach adulthood, and change relatively little thereafter. Therefore, people who often experienced economic scarcity would place a high value on meeting economic needs and will value economic growth above protecting the environment. Such people would also place high value on safety needs and will support more authoritarian styles of leadership, exhibit strong feelings of national pride, will be strongly in favor of mainlaininy a large, strong army kind will be more willing to sacrifice civil liberties for the s.ikc of law and order. On the other hand, people who have experienced sustained high material affluence start to give high priority to values such as individual improvement, personal freedom, citizen input in government decisions, the ideal of a society based on humanism, and maintaining a clean and healthy environment.

The Scarcity and Socialisation hypothesis together carry the implication that, given long periods of material affluence, a growing part of society will embrace post-materialist value systems. Indeed, the past 30 years of survey data has borne out the same implication internationally. It has also been observed that the post-material orientations acquired by people during socialisation have remained remarkably steady over the lime-frame of multiple decades, being a more stable value-system in contrast to the more volatile political and social attitudes.

The spread of post-materialism in a society can be empirically measured through several ways. A common and relatively simple way is by creating an index from survey respondents' patterns of responses to a series of items which were designed to measure personal political priorities. For example, a survey may ask respondents 10 choose two things that seem the most desirable to you. The options may include maintaining order in the nation, giving people more say in important political decisions, fighting rising prices, protecting freedom of speech, etc. On the basis of the choices made by respondents, they may be classified into value priority groups, ranging from a 'pure' acquisitive type to a 'pure' post-bourgeois type, with several intermediate categories.

In the human sciences, the theoretical assumptions and the empirical research connected with the concept of post-materialism have received considerable attention. The 'Inglehart-index' has been included in several surveys including the General Social Survey, World Values Survey, Eurobarometer, German General Social Survey (ALLBUS),

'Turning Points of the Life-Course, etc. The time series in ALLBUS is particularly comprehensive and it suggests that from 1980 to 1990 tilt- share of 'pure post-materialists' increased from 13 to 31 per cent in West Germany. However, after the economic and social stress caused by German reunification in 1990 it dropped to 23 percent in 1992 and stayed on that level afterwards. The ALLBUS sample survey from the less affluent population in East Germany show much lower portions of post- materialists ranging from 10 to 15 per cent.

International data from the 2000 World Values Survey show the highest percentage of post-materialists in Australia (35%) followed by Austria (30%), Canada (29%), Italy (28%), Argentina (25%), United States (25%). Sweden (22%), Netherlands (22%), and Puerto Rico (22%).'Measurements of post-materialism have prima facie proven to be statistically important variables in many analyses, in spite of some questions being raised by these and other data.

In some way post-materialism may be criticized as super- materialism. However, it should not he mixed indiscriminately with asceticism or general denial of consumption as increasing post- materialism is based on the abundance of material possessions or resources. German data show that there is a tendency towards this orientation among young people, in the economically rather secure public service, and in the managerial middle class. In the 21st century, the issue of a 'second generation of Post-materialism' has been brought up by Cultural Scientist Roland Benedikter in his seven-fold book series Post-materialismus. Another recent form of post-materialism is that proposed by the Italian atheist philosopher Carlo Tamagnone. Aiming in various ways to overcome the materialistic reductionism, Tamagnone proposes new concepts that are not strictly materialistic, and has thus opened a new horizon, in fact, a new form of atheist existentialism.