Preference for modernization is universal, but expected modernization trajectories are culturally diversified: A nine-country study of folk theories of societal development
Preference for modernization is universal, but expected modernization trajectories are culturally diversified: A nine-country study of folk theories of societal development
StatusVoR
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Authors
Krys, Kuba
Capaldi, Colin A.
Uchida, Yukiko
Cantarero, Katarzyna
Torres, Claudio
Is¸ık, Idil
Wai Lan Yeung, Victoria
Haas, Brian W.
Teyssier, Julien
Andrade, Laura
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Date
2022-12
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Asian Journal of Social Psychology
Issue
4
Volume
25
Pages
Pages
731-746
ISSN
1367-2223
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Access date
2022-12
Abstract PL
Abstract EN
Cultural sensitivity in societal development has been advocated for since at least the 1960s but has remained understudied. Our goal is to address this gap and to investigate folk theories of societal development. We aimed to identify both universal and culturally specific lay beliefs about what constitutes good societal development. We collected data from 2,684 participants from Japan, Hong Kong (China), Poland, Turkey, Brazil, France, Nigeria, the USA, and Canada. We measured preferences for 28 development aims. We used multidimensional scaling, analysis of variance, and pairwise comparisons to identify universal and country-specific preferences. Our results demonstrate that what people understand as modernization is fairly universal across countries, but specific pathways of development and preferences towards these pathways tend to vary between countries. We distinguished three facets of modernization—foundational aims (e.g., trust, economic development), welfare aims (e.g., poverty eradication, education), and inclusive aims (e.g., openness, gender equality)—and incorporated them into a folk meta-theory of modernization. In all nine countries, the three facets of modernization were preferred more than conventional aims (e.g., military, demographic growth). We propose a method of implementing our findings into a culturally sensitive modernization index.
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Keywords PL
Keywords EN
ultural sensitivity
culture
HDI
modernization
societal development
culture
HDI
modernization
societal development
Keywords other
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