Economic culture in post-industrial society: Orientation toward growth, work and technology

This paper reports the results of a cross-national research study examining the argument that the values and attitudes generated by post-industrial society tend to be incongruent with the imperatives of industrialism. The empirical findings suggest that the ‘economic culture’ of the Western public, as indicated by attitudes toward economic growth and technological change, as well as by work-values and commitment, is generally supportive of the logic of industrialism. However, there also exists evidence for significant inter- and intra-societal differences which reflect the mediation of various contextual effects on the outcomes of industrialisation.