Values in Fast Motion: Political and Personal Values at the Beginning of the Financial and Economic Crisis 2008

18 Pages Posted: 12 Oct 2013

See all articles by David Glowsky

David Glowsky

Free University of Berlin (FUB) - Department of Political and Social Sciences

Michael Mutz

Justus-Liebig Universität Giessen

Date Written: May 16, 2012

Abstract

This article analyzes changes in political and basic personal values at the beginning of the financial and economic crisis of 2008. In a first step, the paper argues that dramatic events with far-reaching societal implications can result in a change of values and attitudes among citizens. Such a value change is likely if mass media cover a dramatic event over a long period and convey congruent interpretations and judgments to the audience. In a second step, an analysis of two major newspapers illustrates that these preconditions were fulfilled at the beginning of the financial and economic crisis: over several months, the crisis was at the top of the media agenda, and articles presented consistent and explicit moral judgments about causes and culprits. In a third step, the article shows that the advancement of the financial and economic crisis indeed resulted in a change in political values. A growing proportion of Germans (a) gave priority to equality instead of liberty, (b) favored a society which places less importance on money and (c) classified itself as politically ‘left’ rather than ‘right’. Despite these value shifts in regard to politics and society, the respondents’ personal values, which represent general value orientations regarding the world, remained widely unchanged during the covered period.

Keywords: political ideology, equality freedom, materialism, value change, political attitudes

JEL Classification: Z1

Suggested Citation

Glowsky, David and Mutz, Michael, Values in Fast Motion: Political and Personal Values at the Beginning of the Financial and Economic Crisis 2008 (May 16, 2012). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2339075 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2339075

David Glowsky

Free University of Berlin (FUB) - Department of Political and Social Sciences ( email )

Germany

Michael Mutz (Contact Author)

Justus-Liebig Universität Giessen ( email )

Institut für Sportwissenschaft
Giessen, 35394
Germany

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