In Pursuit of Postbourgeois Man

Abstract

This article uses an alternative test of Inglehart's postmaterialism hypothesis, drawing on volunteered responses to open-ended election survey questions, instead of structured responses to the standard forced-choice scale, and on responses to quality of life survey questions concerning personal as well as public goals. Data from three Canadian national election studies (1974, 1979, and 1980) yield little support for Inglehart's generational explanation for postmaterialism. They do, however, reveal an unanticipated asymmetry between indicators of materialism and postmaterialsim and the possibility of life cycle effects. Analysis of Quality of Life data (1977) provides some indication of linkage between public values and private needs and at the same time compelling evidence of the multidimensionality of postmaterialism. It is suggested that personal goals relating to self-actualization and economic security are subject to life cycle effects, while public postmaterial goals can be accounted for more readily by generational factors. The data also point to a significant and unexpected interaction between two value domains, suggesting that postbourgeois man may not be as liberal and democratic as generally supposed.