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Journal ArticleDOI

Political Cleavages and Political Realignment in Norway: The New Politics Thesis Reexamined

01 Jan 1986-Scandinavian Political Studies (Blackwell Publishing Ltd)-Vol. 9, Iss: 3, pp 235-260
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors take the literature regarding the new politics thesis as the point of departure and examine the relative importance of different political cleavages, and find that although there is a clear tendency towards a generation-based structural de-alignment process in accordance with new politics literature, the thesis that the materialist/post-materialist dimension has taken over as the dominant polarization pattern in Norway is not generally confirmed.
Abstract: The question of political realignment and dealignment in advanced industrial democracies has been the subject of considerable comparative analysis. The present study takes the literature regarding the ‘new politics’ thesis as the point of departure and examines the relative importance of different political cleavages. The traditional socio-structural cleavages in the Rokkan/Lipset model for political polarization in industrial society are contrasted with an extended ideological cleavage model which includes five different dimensions. Using data from a nationwide Norwegian survey, the findings indicate that although there is a clear tendency towards a generation-based structural de-alignment process in accordance with ‘new politics’ literature. the thesis that the materialist/post-materialist dimension has taken over as the dominant polarization pattern in Norway is not generally confirmed. The ‘old left-right’ ideological cleavages - which we have called Leftist/Rightist Materialism - appears to be of greater importance. even in the post-war generations.

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01 Jan 2008

9 citations


Cites background from "Political Cleavages and Political R..."

  • ...Knutsen (1986, 1988) considered ideologies as sets of constrained political values which empirically constitute opposed political orientations and consequently value-based cleavages....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the support for each of the three main goals or functions of the state: the authoritarian state, the welfare state, and the humanitarian state in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the four largest European Union (EU) countries.
Abstract: Data on people's attitudes to items on the public budgets are found in the International Social Science Programme (ISSP) Role of Government surveys and Danish national election surveys 1990–1998. These data are factor analysed to validate a three-way agenda that postulates three main goals or functions of the state: the authoritarian state, the welfare state, and the humanitarian state. The factor solution is very similar in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the four largest European Union (EU) countries, and on many points consistent with theories of value change and new politics. Based on the factor analysis, the support for each of the three agendas is analysed for voters of different parties in the three Scandinavian party systems. We find that all three systems are structured in at least two dimensions, the welfare dimension and the humanitarian vs. authoritarian dimension. These data therefore point to the existence of a ‘new politics’ dimension that is similar in the three party systems insofar as it contains the same five budget items. However, the opinion climate differs somewhat between the three countries. The support for the humanitarian agenda is lowest in Norway, whereas the support for the authoritarian agenda is highest in Denmark.

7 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
28 Sep 2017

5 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors test the hypothesis that postwar affluence led to an intergenerational shift from Materialist to Post-Materialist values among Western publics, and analyzes the consequences of the economic uncertainty prevailing since 1973.
Abstract: This article tests the hypothesis that postwar affluence led to an intergenerational shift from Materialist to Post-Materialist values among Western publics, and analyzes the consequences of the economic uncertainty prevailing since 1973. The young emphasize Post-Materialist values more than the old. Time-series data indicate that this reflects generational change far more than aging effects, but that the recession of the mid-1970s also produced significant period effects. As Post-Materialists aged, they moved out of the student ghetto and became a predominant influence among young technocrats, contributing to the rise of a “New Class.” They furnish the ideologues and core support for the environmental, zero-growth and antinuclear movements; and their opposition to those who give top priority to reindustrialization and rearmament constitutes a distinctive and persisting dimension of political cleavage.

656 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors identified 27 definitional components or "elements" which are discussed in turn to ascertain their utility and coherence as definitional criteria, and built them into a definition which allows consideration of the expressive and justificatory dimension of beliefs often ignored in other definitions.
Abstract: This article, based upon an extensive examination of the literature on the concept of ideology, identifies some 27 definitional components or ‘elements' which are discussed in turn to ascertain their utility and coherence as definitional criteria. On the basis of this examination a number of these elements are found to be essential to the concept, and are built into a definition which allows consideration of, among other things, the expressive and justificatory dimension of beliefs often ignored in other definitions.

122 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this view, concepts are neither right nor wrong but are more or less useful; their utility is determined by the twin and mutually dependent requirements of empirical precision and theoretical importance as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Abraham Kaplan in his ‘paradox of conceptualization’ draws attention to the fundamental problem of concept-formation: ‘The proper concepts are needed to formulate good theory, but we need a good theory to arrive at the proper concepts’. On this view, concepts are neither right nor wrong but are more or less useful; their utility is determined by the twin and mutually dependent requirements of empirical precision and theoretical importance. ‘Empirical precision’ has to do with a concept's ability to ‘carve up’ the world of phenomena without unnecessary ambiguities; ‘theoretical importance’ has to do with the utility of a concept in the development of statements of wide explanatory and predictive power.

104 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Nov 1961

59 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the status of postmaterialist syndrome in Norway is established empirically based on a national sample survey carried out in 1981 (N = 1, 170), and the analysis focuses on two major questions: the distinctness of post materialism in a left-right context, and the congruity between different value domains.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to establish empirically the status of Ronald Inglehart's postmaterialist syndrome in Norway. As a prototypical social democratic state, and one of the only European countries yet to be adequately tested for postmaterialism, Norway represents a particularly interesting case for the Inglehart thesis. On the basis of a national sample survey carried out in 1981 (N = 1, 170), the analysis focuses on two major questions: the distinctness of postmaterialism in a left-right context, and the congruity between different value domains. Of particular importance is the finding that there exists a postmaterialist profile for democratic values that is much more distinct than the literature has allowed for up to now.

40 citations