Postmaterialism and Political Participation in Spain

Abstract

One of the conclusions of Inglehart's work is that postmaterialism leads to higher rates of political action. Particularly, postmaterialists are opposed to the established social order and support citizen input in government decisions in a horizontal way. These attitudes would be associated with unconventional political participation. The objective of this article is to examine to what extent this holds true in the Spanish case in the period 1980–2000. The authors' analysis reveals that in Spain there has not been a systematic rejection of electoral participation as a result of the rise of postmaterialism. Nevertheless, postmaterialists are more likely to engage in unconventional participation and participation in new associations.