Ronald Inglehart

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Ronald F. Inglehart (born September 5, 1934 in Milwaukee , Wisconsin , USA ; † May 8, 2021 ) was an American political scientist and from 1978 professor at the University of Michigan .

Academic resume

Inglehart studied at Northwestern University until 1956 , where he graduated with a bachelor's degree . He then went on to study for a master’s degree at the University of Chicago until 1962 . In 1963/64 he finally completed a Fulbright scholarship at the University of Leiden (Netherlands). In 1967 Inglehart received his doctorate from the University of Chicago. From 1978 he was Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan. In addition, from 1985 he was program director of the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan.

Inglehart was also visiting professor at numerous universities: University of Mannheim ; University of Kyoto (Japan); Dōshisha University , Kyoto (Japan); Free University of Berlin ; University of Leiden (Netherlands); Academia Sinica , Taipei (Taiwan); Berlin Science Center for Social Research; University of Rome (Italy). Since 2008 Inglehart has been “Wisdom Professor” at Jacobs University Bremen and a member of the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences ( BIGSSS ) for three months each year .

Other activities: Collaboration on the Euro-Barometer, the World Values ​​Surveys , editorial work for several scientific journals, scientific advisory board of the Berlin Science Center for Social Research, etc.

From 2009 he was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

In 2011, Inglehart and Pippa Norris received the Skytteanska priset from Uppsala University , the highest international award for political scientists.

Theories

Inglehart – Welzel cultural map of the world

Change in values

Inglehart became famous in the 1970s for his theory of changing values . The theory is based on the hierarchy of needs of Abraham Maslow . According to this model, human needs form the “levels” of a pyramid and build on one another in accordance with this one-dimensional theory. So man tries to meet the needs of the lower levels first before the next levels become meaningful. For example, those who have been frustrated in their need for self-preservation or security will want to meet those needs first. Only then will he strive for “higher needs” such as social recognition or self-realization . According to Inglehart, people develop a materialistic / post-materialistic attitude during their youth. The greater the formative security (i.e., the greater the wealth a person experiences during childhood), the more likely that person will develop a post-materialistic attitude. On the other hand , if a person experiences poverty , they are more likely to develop a materialistic attitude.

His theory states that with increasing prosperity in a society, the striving for materialistic values ​​(e.g. inclination for security and security of basic services) decreases, while the striving for post-materialistic values (e.g. inclination to political freedom, environmental protection) increases. Inglehart is of the opinion that materialists tend towards conservative values, post-materialists tend towards values ​​of self-expression. For example, materialists have a negative attitude towards homosexuality and disapprove of abortion. They are more patriotic and religious than post materialists. Inglehart attributes this to the fact that an individual who experiences little formative security seeks support in religion. In contrast, post materialists are strongly overrepresented in the so-called “ new political movements ” such as the peace movement or the environmental protection movement. They have a strong tendency to vote for “new politics” parties such as the Greens. In general, the emergence of the Greens is largely attributed to the change in values.

Empirical measurement

To statistically check the theory, Inglehart constructed the so-called Inglehart or post-materialism index, which differentiates materialists from post-materialists using a ranking scale.

For this purpose, the respondents from the four items should:

  • Maintaining order in the nation
  • more say in important political decisions (giving the people more say in important political decisions)
  • Fighting rising prices
  • Protecting freedom of speech

pick two that you consider most desirable. This results in six possible combinations that Inglehart assigns to the groups materialists, post-materialists and mixed types.

The index is methodologically controversial among social scientists . In addition, empirical studies seem to partially refute the one-dimensional development that Inglehart predicted (e.g. Klein 1995).

Three-step theory pre-modern, modern, post-modern

  1. Premodern society: society in shortages with the primary goal of securing one's own survival
  2. Modern and industrial society: striving for performance, prosperity and security with the aim of overcoming poverty
  3. Postmodern society: increase in standard of living; Consumer and service society with the goal of self-realization

Secularization and democratization

In his last works, Inglehart dealt increasingly with the role of religion and religious cultures in the development of democracy and politics. He saw a strong connection between processes of secularization and democratization , which are linked to one another through modernization . However, the different religious cultures lead to path dependencies of modernization.

See also

Works

  • The Silent Revolution: Changing Values ​​and Political Styles among Western Publics . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977
  • Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990
  • Modernization and post-modernization. Cultural, economic and political change in 43 societies . Frankfurt / Main: Campus Verlag 1998, ISBN 3-593-35750-X .
  • with Paul R. Abramson: Measuring Postmaterialism . The American Political Science Review (1999) 93 (3), pp. 665-677.
  • with Christian Welzel : Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy. The Human Development Sequence . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005
  • with Pippa Norris : Sacred and Secular. Religion and Politics Worldwide . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004
  • with Pippa Norris: Cosmopolitan Communications. Cultural Diversity in a Globalized World . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009
  • Cultural evolution. People's Motivations are Changing, and Reshaping the World . Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
  • with Pippa Norris: Cultural Backlash: Trump, Brexit, and Authoritarian Populism , Cambridge University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1108444422

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary. Accessed May 9, 2021 .
  2. ↑ Ronald Inglehart: The Silent Revolution . Princeton University Press, New Jersey 1977, pp. 28-29 .
personal data
SURNAME Inglehart, Ronald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Inglehart, Ronald F.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American political scientist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH September 5, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Milwaukee , Wisconsin , USA
DATE OF DEATH May 8, 2021