Stefano Bartolini
DEPS, Università di Siena
Francesco Sarracino
STATEC, Luxembourg;GESIS, Cologne;LCSR, Moscow.
Abstract
Using data from the World Values Survey and the European Values Study, we compare the trends of materialism over the last quarter of century among the US and six major European countries: France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Great Britain and Sweden. We use the definition of materialism adopted by positive psychologists. We find that the trends in Europe and in the US diverged. In the US materialism increased, while in Europe it decreased. However, some mixed patterns arise. In particular, Great Britain, Spain and Sweden showed some symptoms of an increase of materialistic values, although they were far less pronounced compared to the American ones. As far as the levels of materialism are concerned, the US started from relatively less materialistic positions. However, towards the end of our period of observation, they scored very high in the ranking of materialism in our sample of countries.
Keywords:
materialism, trends, positive psychology, United States, Europe.
Jel Classification:
D64; I31; O57.
