Description
This book provides a succinct introduction to the postmaterialist theses raised by Ronald Inglehart, Christian Welzel, and Russel Dalton. After discussing the anthropological and psychological origins of postmaterialist values, this book elucidates how the “human development theory” or “human emancipation theory” is represented in some prominent empirical studies in the field. This book not only aims to explain the conceptual framework for studying postmaterialist and emancipative patterns but also tries to demonstrate how research on value change, public opinion, and civic culture has benefited from transnational survey projects such as the World Values Survey and how the “Asian uniqueness” or "Asian exceptionalism" debate exemplified by Doh Chull Shin’s works remains to be addressed by future scholars.