Page 51 - Comparing Political Communication Theories, Cases, and Challenge

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Americanization, Globalization, and Secularization

Anumber of social processes, many of them interrelated, have been
identified as possible causes of this transformation of political life. In
the sphere of economics, the manufacturing industries in which tradi-
tional working-class organizations were rooted have declined, displaced
by the growing service sector. Perhaps most fundamentally, European
economies have expanded, and it seems likely that increased affluence
and the growth of the consumer society resulted in an increasing empha-
sis on individual economic success rather than political defense of group
interests. A contrasting, though not necessarily incompatible interpre-
tation of the effect of economic growth is Inglehart’s (1977) argument
that affluence and the stabilization of liberal democracy led to the rise of
postmaterialist values. This change in political culture is seen as under-
cutting the ideological divisions on which the old party system was based
and making individuals increasingly unwilling to defer to the leadership
of traditional organizations. It may in turn be related to the rise of new
social movements raising issues that cut across traditional party lines.
ThesesamefactorscitedbyInglehart–affluenceandtheconsolidation
of parliamentary democracy within the context of a capitalist economy –
may also be responsible for a marked decline in ideological polarization.
There is considerable evidence that the ideological differences between
political parties have decreased (Mair 1997, 133). This is probably con-
nected with the acceptance of the broad outlines of the welfare state by
conservative parties and of capitalism and liberal democracy by the par-
ties of the left; an important symbol of this shift would be the “historic
compromise” that incorporated the Communist Party into the division
of political power in Italy in the 1970s. The literature on “plural” societies
such as the Netherlands, where the various subcultures had separate in-
stitutions at the grassroots level, often notes that the leaderships of these
communities became accustomed to cooperation and compromise at
the level of national state institutions.
Some accounts of change in European political systems also point to
increased education, which might result in voters seeking information
independently rather than relying on the leadership of political parties.
In some accounts this is connected with a shift from voting based on
party and group loyalty to issue-based voting. Some also mention that
patronage systems have declined, in part because of economic integra-
tion and the pressures it puts on government budgets, undercutting the
ability of parties to provide material incentives to their active supporters
(Kitschelt 2000). Finally, the rise of new demographic groups as a result
of immigration may have weakened the old order, both because the new

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