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Long‐term dynamics of political values in international perspective: Comparing the results of content analysis of political documents in the USA, GB, FRG and Switzerland
Author(s) -
EISNER MANUEL
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
european journal of political research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.267
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1475-6765
pISSN - 0304-4130
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6765.1990.tb00250.x
Subject(s) - dimension (graph theory) , politics , positive economics , value (mathematics) , term (time) , modernization theory , independence (probability theory) , content analysis , content (measure theory) , perspective (graphical) , social science , dynamics (music) , thematic analysis , sociology , political science , epistemology , economics , law , qualitative research , statistics , mathematics , philosophy , mathematical analysis , physics , geometry , quantum mechanics , pure mathematics , pedagogy
Abstract. Recent empirical research on the long‐term cultural dynamics of political values in the USA and Great Britain suggested that modern societies might be characterized by long cycles of recurring value orientations. This paper analyzes and criticizes the theoretical and methodological foundations that guided this content‐analytic approach which is based on an application of the Lasswell‐value dictionary to political documents. Taking this critique into account, a similar analysis is done on Swiss material. The results are compared to empirical results gained in the United States, Great Britain and the Federal Republic of Germany. They show that there exists a considerable degree of independence in the process of thematic change in national societies. Moreover Swiss data reveal a content‐analytic dimension that distinguishes texts according to the degree to which either instrumental or ethical themes predominate. This dimension seems to be related to long‐term processes of modernisation.