Value Orientation (Inglehart Materialism/Postmaterialism Items)

There is a lot of talk these days about what this country's goals should be for the next ten or fifteen years. On this card are listed some of the goals that different people say should be given top priority. Would you please say which of them you yourself consider to be most important in the long run ? And what would be your second choice?

Standard items (A):

1. Maintaining order in the nation 
2. Giving people more say in important government decisions
3. Fighting rising prices
4. Protecting freedom of speech

Additional items (B):

1. Maintaining a high level of economic growth
2. Making sure that this country has strong defence forces
3. Seeing that people have more say about how things are done at their jobs and in their communities
4. Trying to make our cities and countryside more beautiful

Additional items (C):

1. A stable economy
2. Progress towards a less impersonal and more humane society
3. Progress towards a society in which ideas count more than money
4. The fight against crime

Additional items (D):

1. Guarantee greater job security
2. Make our society more human
3. Raise salaries
4. Guarantee the participation of workers in the management of enterprises
    

NOTE: Usually the corresponding Materialism/Post-materialism (Inglehart) Index is included in the respective Eurobarometer data set. Please notice that the construction of this index is not consistent over time with respect to the treatment of MISSING VALUES (Don't Know / Not Ascertained to one or both basic variables). The original INRA data set editions collapse all MISSING VALUES into the index category MIXED. It is strongly recommended to check the codebook documentation and recode the missing values where necessary.

• For a the theoretical background of this variable, see Ronald Inglehart: The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Styles among Western Publics, Princeton University Press, 1977.
   
• The standard Inglehart items and the corresponding materialism/post-materialism index variable are also available in the Mannheim Eurobarometer Trend File 1970-2002. 

(1) With the exception of Eurobarometer 5 all question numbers and variables refer to the standard items (A).

(2) Please note that the variable names refer to the final ICPSR/ZA codebook editions, if available.

(3) all 12 items, asked separately in three groups (A/B/C) and all together including the least important choice

(4) all 12 items, multiple response format, asked for the most, second most and least important choice

(5) minor country specific variations in category 4

(6) standard items only asked in Denmark (V69/V70), all other countries (V67/V68) asked items (B)

(7) minor country specific variations in categories 2 and 4

(8) standard items with minor variations (V65/V66) and additional item group D (V63/V64)

(9) Different question wording: Out of these statements, could you choose the two top priorities for any authority (local, national or European)? Standard items A modified: (1) to maintain law and order; (2) to give as many people as possible an influence in important political decisions; (3) to prevent price rises; (4) to protect freedom of expression; (5) other (spontaneous); (6) DK.

(10) Different question context with selected, modified and new items: People sometimes think about what the aims of our society should be for the next ten years or so. In your view, which of the following is most important for our society: Q20 (1) ensuring economic development for prosperity and social well-being; (2) passing on an undamaged environment to the next generation; Q21 (1) protecting freedom of speech and human rights; (2) fighting crime and terrorism; Q22 (1) having strong European companies to compete in global markets; (2) reducing economic inequalities among people in Europe.

(11) Different question context with two standard items only: Which of the following do you think is most important? (1) protecting freedom of speech and human rights; (2) fighting crime and terrorism