Globalization, Cultural Traditions, and Adolescents Value Orientations

Abstract

Using data on eight-grade adolescents surveyed in the 2009 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), this paper investigates whether globalization can have an impact on adolescents value orientations from an aggregate cross-national perspective. The results of two-level hierarchical linear models (HLM) refute the hyperglobalist thesis for the universal convergence of values as a result of globalization, i.e., more globalized countries are characterized by the declining relevance of traditional markers of identity (e.g., nationality and religion) and their replacement with values that are more democratic and tolerant. Rather, findings lend support to the skeptical and transformative theses that focus on the enduring influence of cultural traditions on adolescents value systems. Adolescents supports for democratic values and immigrant rights do not vary across countries in accordance with the level of globalization. The influence of a countrys cultural tradition on adolescents attitudes toward religion, nation-states, and gender equality persists, even after controlling for the effect of globalization. A supplementary analysis also reveals that what conditions the effect of globalization on adolescents value orientations is economic development rather than democratic advancement.