Postmaterialisme en stemgedrag

In this article we argue that - as contrasted with recent findings - postmaterialism plays an important role in voting behaviour. We show that during the period o f economic recession between 1977 and 1986 socio-economic left-right views tend to become a more accurate predictor o f voting behaviour than the socio-cultural libertarian-authoritarian views do. The ‘scarcety hypothesis’ very well explains this finding: one may speak o f a tendency toward materialistic voting as a consequence o f economic decline. However, we have to reject the ‘socialization hypothesis’ when adopting this explanation.