WHY ARE THE YOUNG MORE POSTMATERIALIST - A CROSS-NATIONAL ANALYSIS OFINDIVIDUAL AND CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES ON POSTMATERIAL VALUES

Research on aggregate generational changes in postmaterialist values i ndicates that cohort and life cycle effects are present, but does not identify precisely the causes of observed age differences. Using data from the 8-nation Political Action Study and macro-level indicators, t his article examines the impact of both individual level and contextua l factors on the relationship between year of birth and postmaterialis m. Value change is found to be in the main accounted for by levels of education and severity of war-time experience-variables which have not usually been given a central role in Inglehart's theory, whereas the effects of several measures of formative affluence-a key element of th e theory-are not significant. These results are taken to suggest that the postmaterialism scale does not measure post-''materialism,'' but i ndexes instead values pertaining to progressive liberalism. It follows that the political consequences of value change are likely to differ somewhat from those proposed by the theory.