4.If the observed score on mastery in Chile, before
adjusting for scale use, is 5.375 (the mean of all
mastery items across all respondents in the sample),
then the adjusted score for mastery will be 5.00
(5.375/C0.375). That is the score to use for the mastery
dimension in cross-national comparisons.5.Let’s say the Chilean average for harmony was 2.875.
Then the score on this dimension would be corrected
to 2.500 (2.875 /C0.375) for cross-national comparisons.
Failure to correct for scale use yields incorrect
results.
Note: Reproduced with permission.
World Values Survey (WVS)
(Inglehart, 1997; Inglehart & Baker, 2000 ).
Variable
Two cultural dimensions are measured in the WVS: Survival vs. Self-Expression Values and Traditional vs.
Secular-Rational Values.
Description
The cultural dimensions of Survival vs. Self-Expression Values and Traditional vs. Secular-Rational Values are
two of the many constructs measured by the WVS, which is a survey designed to measure attitudes, values and
beliefs in different countries or regions. Traditional values emphasize the importance of religion, family, national
pride, respect for authority, protectionist attitudes against foreign trade, and social conformity ( Inglehart &
Baker, 2000 ). Secular-Rational values deemphasize the importance of religious and traditional values and pro-
mote the use of reason and logic in problem solving. Survival values emphasize ‘economic and physical security
above all other goals,’ defense against the threat of foreigners, ethnic diversity and cultural change, ‘an intoler-
ance of gays and other outgroups, an insistence on traditional gender roles, and an authoritarian political out-
look’ ( Inglehart & Baker, 2000 , p. 26). Self-Expression values emphasize ‘trust, tolerance, subjective well-being,
political activism and self expression’ ( Inglehart & Baker, 2000 , p. 25).
In the World Value Survey (WVS), culture refers to ‘subjective aspect of a society’s institutions: the beliefs,
values, knowledge, and skills that have been internalized by the people of a given society, complementing their
external systems of coercions and exchange’ ( Inglehart, 1997 , p. 15). The cultural dimensions are constructed to
track value shifts across generations when a society goes through modernization and post-modernization and as
a result of interactions between cultures, political entities and economies ( Inglehart, 1997 ). According to the the-
ory of intergenerational value change ( Inglehart, 1977 ), ‘an individual’s priorities reflect the socioeconomic envi-
ronment: one places the greatest subjective value on those things that are in relatively short supply.’ (p. 33). This
idea is known as the scarcity hypothesis. In addition, according to the socialization hypothesis, ‘the relationship
between socioeconomic environment and value priorities is not one of immediate adjustment: a substantial time
lag is involved because, to a large extent, one’s basic values reflect the conditions that prevailed during one’s
pre-adult years’ ( Inglehart, 1977 , p. 33). When a country transits from a modern to a postmodern society, value
shifts can occur. People start to value survival and traditional values less and self-expression and secular-rational
values more.
The WVS consists of 347 items. However, only 16 items are used to measure the cultural dimensions
(Inglehart & Baker, 2000 ). The Traditional vs. Secular-Rational value dimension scale consists of eight items with
four items forming an autonomy index. The Survival vs. Self-Expression value dimension scale consists of eight
items with four items forming a materialist/postmaterialist value index. A mixture of different response formats
(e.g., Likert-type scales, multiple choice) are used in the measures.
Sample
The first multinational survey using the WVS was conducted in the early 1980s. Currently, six waves of multi-
national data are available: 1981 /C01982 Wave 1 (21 societies), 1990 /C01991 Wave 2 (44 societies), 1995 /C01998 Wave 3
(56 societies), 1999 /C02001 Wave 4 (70 societies), 2005 /C02007 Wave 5 (57 societies) and 2010 /C02014 Wave 6 (52 socie-
ties) ( World Values Survey, 2014 ). Characteristics of the respondents varied across societies due to the use of dif-
ferent sampling strategies by the investigators in the individual country.631 OVERVIEW OF THE MEASURES
VI. SOCIOCULTURAL INTERACTION AND CONFLICT