Postindustrialism and postmaterialism? A critical view of the new economy, the information age, the high tech society and all that

The theory of postindustrial society and postmaterialist culture can explain neither the structural uniformities of modern society captured by convergence theory nor the national differences captured by theories of democratic corporatism and the mass society. Its depiction of structural changes is superficial: the service sector is too heterogeneous to describe occupational and industrial trends; the idea of technocratic dominance is overblown and misses big national differences in the location and role of experts and intellectuals. As for postindustrial values, they apply to a small population, a minority even of college students. That these attitudes fluctuate so much with shifting economic conditions and political agendas casts doubt on the idea of a basic shift toward postmaterial values. The literature documenting such shifts is plagued with problems of survey validity. It goes up against a heavy weight of evidence showing that older issues of security, equality, civic order and crime, economic growth and stability are dominant in the politics and mentality of modern populations; that cohort effects are weak to non-existent; that political generational effects are rare and soon fade away; that family life cycle, if carefully delineated, has an impact across a wide range of attitudes and behavior. Most important, differences in national mobilizing structures shape both mass and elite responses to the dilemmas and problems of modern life. Assessing related images of modern society - the information age, the high-tech society - the paper finds these equally misleading. This paper is based on chs. 1 and 4 of H.L. Wilensky, Rich Democracies: Political Economy, Public Policy, and Performance (University of California Press, 2002). --

Technology, Work and Leisure : Reflections on the Gains and Costs of Abundance

L'objectif principal de ce travail est de réfléchir quelque peu aux profits et aux coûts de l'abondance tout en insistant d'une façon toute spéciale sur l'influence de l'industrialisation dans notre vie moderne.Si nous comparons notre époque au moyen âge, nous constatons plus de liberté, plus de relations interpersonnelles quoique moins stables qu'auparavant, une prolifération d'organisations indépendantes, etc. Cependant, malgré toute l'abondance de l'économie nord-américaine, on note de plus en plus une certaine indifférence face à la pauvreté et en plus une distribution très inégale du travail. Dire que notre société est orientée de plus en plus vers le loisir serait une absurdité : Les peuples modernes demeurent assez affairés en moyenne. Cependant, plusieurs groupes sont condamnés par le manque de travail à rechercher le loisir.Nos succès entraînent avec eux-mêmes de nouvelles menaces à l'égalité et à la justice sociale. Notre abondance est étonnante, mais elle laisse une main-d'oeuvre nombreuse sans satisfaction au travail. La quantité moyenne de loisir est impressionnante mais elle est distribuée très inégalement et la plupart de ceux qui en profitent, y sont obligés.A technology that permits a heavy flow of military and consumer goods, a mass education system producing a mass audience, untrained to higher tastes, a cultural élite more heterogeneous in background and functions, more open to mass culture, these are all gains of abundance, but to what cost ? The following text is drawn from an address presented at the last meeting of CIRRI and from the discussion which took place

Postindustrialism and postmaterialism? A critical view of the "New Economy", the "Information Age", the "High Tech Society", and all that

"The theory of postindustrial society and postmaterialist culture can explain neither the structural uniformities of modern society captured by convergence theory nor the national differences captured by theories of democratic corporatism and the mass society. Its depiction of structural changes is superficial: the service sector is too heterogeneous to describe occupational and industrial trends; the idea of technocratic dominance is overblown and misses big national differences in the location and role of experts and intellectuals. As for postindustrial values, they apply to a small population, a minority even of college students. That these attitudes fluctuate so much with shifting economic conditions and political agendas casts doubt on the idea of a basic shift toward 'postmaterial values'. The literature documenting such shifts is plagued with problems of survey validity. It goes up against a heavy weight of evidence showing that older issues of security, equality, civic order and crime, economic growth and stability are dominant in the politics and mentality of modern populations; that cohort effects are weak to non-existent; that political generational effects are rare and soon fade away; that family life cycle, if carefully delineated, has an impact across a wide range of attitudes and behavior. Most important, differences in national mobilizing structures shape both mass and elite responses to the dilemmas and problems of modern life. Assessing related images of modern society - 'the information age', the 'high-tech society' - the paper finds these equally misleading." (author's abstract)Die Theorie der postindustriellen Gesellschaft und der postmaterialistischen Kultur sind - so die These des vorliegenden Arbeitspapiers - nicht in der Lage, die strukturellen Gemeinsamkeiten und die nationalen Differenzen der modernen "Massengesellschaft" zu erklären. Die Beschreibungen des Strukturwandels durch diese Ansätze sind oberflächlich: Der Dienstleistungssektor ist zu heterogen, um daraus berufliche und industrielle Trends abzuleiten; die These von der technokratischen Dominanz ist überzogen und ignoriert die Bedeutung von Experten und Intellektuellen. Weiterhin bezweifelt der Autor den behaupteten Trend hin zu "postmaterialistischen" Wertorientierungen. Die empirischen Studien, die diese Entwicklung zu belegen scheinen, kranken alle am Problem der Validität von Umfrageforschung. Gegenüber diesem Wertewandel behauptet der Autor die Persistenz der traditionellen Themen wie Sicherheit, Gleichheit, Angst vor Kriminalität, Wirtschaftswachstum und politische Stabilität in den modernen Gesellschaften. Dies zeigt sich daran, dass bei diesen Themen die Kohorteneffekte zwischen den Generationen schwach ausgeprägt sind. Insgesamt sind daher die im Titel genannten "Zeitdiagnosen" eher irreführend. (ICA

Family Structure and Voter Turnout

Abstract We use data from the Voting and Registration Supplement of the Current Population Survey to explore the effects of family structure on turnout in the 2000 presidential election. Our results indicate that family structure, defined as marital status and the presence of children, has substantial consequences for turnout. Married adults are more likely to vote than are those who have never been married; in turn, previously married people are the lightest voters. Children have a smaller but still noteworthy effect on turnout. These results are only partially explained by social and demographic differences

The matching problem within comparative welfare state research: How to bridge abstract theory and specific hypotheses

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Bridging Alone: Religious Conservatism, Marital Homogamy, and Voluntary Association Membership

This study characterizes social insularity of religiously conservative American married couples by examining patterns of voluntary associationmembership. Constructing a dataset of 3938 marital dyads from the second wave of the National Survey of Families and Households, the author investigates whether conservative religious homogamy encourages membership in religious voluntary groups and discourages membership in secular voluntary groups. Results indicate that couples’ shared affiliation with conservative denominations, paired with beliefs in biblical authority and inerrancy, increases the likelihood of religious group membership for husbands and wives and reduces the likelihood of secular group membership for wives, but not for husbands. The social insularity of conservative religious groups appears to be reinforced by homogamy—particularly by wives who share faith with husbands

Bottom-Up Organizing with Tools from On High: Understanding the Data Practices of Labor Organizers

This paper provides insight into the use of data tools in the American labor movement by analyzing the practices of staff employed by unions to organize alongside union members. We interviewed 23 field-level staff organizers about how they use data tools to evaluate membership. We find that organizers work around and outside of these tools to develop access to data for union members and calibrate data representations to meet local needs. Organizers mediate between local and central versions of the data, and draw on their contextual knowledge to challenge campaign strategy. We argue that networked data tools can compound field organizers' lack of discretion, making it more difficult for unions to assess and act on the will of union membership. We show how the use of networked data tools can lead to less accurate data, and discuss how bottom-up approaches to data gathering can support more accurate membership assessments

Genome-wide association study identifies six new loci influencing pulse pressure and mean arterial pressure.

Numerous genetic loci have been associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in Europeans. We now report genome-wide association studies of pulse pressure (PP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP). In discovery (N = 74,064) and follow-up studies (N = 48,607), we identified at genome-wide significance (P = 2.7 × 10(-8) to P = 2.3 × 10(-13)) four new PP loci (at 4q12 near CHIC2, 7q22.3 near PIK3CG, 8q24.12 in NOV and 11q24.3 near ADAMTS8), two new MAP loci (3p21.31 in MAP4 and 10q25.3 near ADRB1) and one locus associated with both of these traits (2q24.3 near FIGN) that has also recently been associated with SBP in east Asians. For three of the new PP loci, the estimated effect for SBP was opposite of that for DBP, in contrast to the majority of common SBP- and DBP-associated variants, which show concordant effects on both traits. These findings suggest new genetic pathways underlying blood pressure variation, some of which may differentially influence SBP and DBP

Genetic variants in novel pathways influence blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk.

Blood pressure is a heritable trait influenced by several biological pathways and responsive to environmental stimuli. Over one billion people worldwide have hypertension (≥140 mm Hg systolic blood pressure or  ≥90 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure). Even small increments in blood pressure are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. This genome-wide association study of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which used a multi-stage design in 200,000 individuals of European descent, identified sixteen novel loci: six of these loci contain genes previously known or suspected to regulate blood pressure (GUCY1A3-GUCY1B3, NPR3-C5orf23, ADM, FURIN-FES, GOSR2, GNAS-EDN3); the other ten provide new clues to blood pressure physiology. A genetic risk score based on 29 genome-wide significant variants was associated with hypertension, left ventricular wall thickness, stroke and coronary artery disease, but not kidney disease or kidney function. We also observed associations with blood pressure in East Asian, South Asian and African ancestry individuals. Our findings provide new insights into the genetics and biology of blood pressure, and suggest potential novel therapeutic pathways for cardiovascular disease prevention

Genetic associations at 53 loci highlight cell types and biological pathways relevant for kidney function.

Reduced glomerular filtration rate defines chronic kidney disease and is associated with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), combining data across 133,413 individuals with replication in up to 42,166 individuals. We identify 24 new and confirm 29 previously identified loci. Of these 53 loci, 19 associate with eGFR among individuals with diabetes. Using bioinformatics, we show that identified genes at eGFR loci are enriched for expression in kidney tissues and in pathways relevant for kidney development and transmembrane transporter activity, kidney structure, and regulation of glucose metabolism. Chromatin state mapping and DNase I hypersensitivity analyses across adult tissues demonstrate preferential mapping of associated variants to regulatory regions in kidney but not extra-renal tissues. These findings suggest that genetic determinants of eGFR are mediated largely through direct effects within the kidney and highlight important cell types and biological pathways