Ronald Inglehart (1934-2021)

the legacy of human development theory

Abstract

Presenting the legacy of Ronald Inglehart's work is the objective of this paper. Given his recent death in May 2021, this article seeks to point out the main contributions of the renowned American political scientist. Which are: the thesis of the silent revolution that gave rise to the theory of human development; the impacts of Marx's and Weber's analyzes on Inglehart's theory; the emancipation thesis of Inglehart's main follower, Christian Welzel; and the way Inglehart dealt with the challenge that the rise of right-wing populist politicians presents to his theory, through the cultural backlash thesis. The results of this survey also point to the importance of the World Values Survey database, whose main exponent was Inglehart, as well as the author's influence on Welzel's most recent works.

Keywords: Post-materialism. Silent Revolution. Cultural Backlash. Emancipation Theory.