Was There a Silent Revolution? A Comparative Analysis of Party Manifestos in Ten European Countries
Was There a Silent Revolution? A Comparative Analysis of Party Manifestos in Ten European Countries

Summary/Abstract: The Silent Revolution Theory argues that in the second part of the 20th century, due to their socialization in an environment of economic affluence and absence of war, the citizens of advanced industrial democracies became more post-materialist in their value orientation; placing a higher value on issues such as personal freedom, self-actualisation, gender and racial equality or protection of the environment. At the same time, they are expected to put less emphasis on materialist values, such as high income or personal security. A content analysis of party programmes in 10 European countries was carried out in order to establish whether current economic, security and democracy levels affect the distribution of values and whether it is possible to make a distinction between different subtypes of values. The research demonstrates that a country’s better economic performance is associated with the rise of post-materialism, and that a lower democracy level indicates a higher proportion of the human rights dimension of post-materialism at the expense of the lifestyle dimension.

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