At the time, Europeans embodied environmental advocacy, self-actualization, self-expression, and other values described by University of Michigan political scientist Ronald Inglehart as “post-materialist “. Europeans actually used this term. They were proud of it. Today, European politics – and French politics in particular – is grossly materialist. The most explosive issues in the last elections were purchasing power, the price of diesel, the retirement age and the shortage of housing (often taken by migrants awaiting an asylum hearing). Europe’s concerns are closer to the world of the 18th century bread riots than to the 20th century world of Save the Whales.
Here is more from Christopher Caldwell at the New York Times.
