A Reassessment of the Factorial Cultural Dimensions of Modern Nations

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This research aims to repeat for the year 1970, and with improvements, the factorial analyses for earlier years made by Cattell, Rummel, Sawyer, and others to determine the dimensions of nations. Taking initially 120 nations and 82 variables covering social, economic, educational, and psychological behavioral indices, the investigation found 24 factors statistically required, though only 21 were clear enough for interpretation. The factoring, tested for factor number by the scree test, and iterated to communalities for that number, was rotated until an unimprovable maximum hyperplane count reached unique oblique simple structure. Although the full testing of congruences with earlier patterns has been allotted to a further article, it is already evident from inspection that the larger patterns (e. g., of vigorous development, intelligent affluence, size, cultural pressure, etc.) found in the studies on data of 1936, 1960, etc., as dimensions of nations, still hold up in the latest period and with the increased roster of nations.