In developing countries - can also be called countries in transition - caste can be a variable. less the caste divisions more the political transformation. More the caste divisions less the political transformation.

similarly position of women. better / worse the position of women more / less the political transformation.

Education can be another.

Some suggestions (not exhaustive)

Social Transformation Variables:

--% population below poverty line 

--Gini index (income inequality)

--Urban / Rural population

--Family size

--Age pyramid

--Infant mortality rate

--Life expectancy

--Illiteracy rate

--Primary, secondary, tertiary education

--% population employed in industrial / service sector

--Gender inequality

--Newspaper readership

--Internet use

--Useful indexes: Human Development Index and Gender Inequality Index UNDP

Political Transformation Variables:

--Freedom House index (Political Rights and Civil Rights):

--Polity Project score

--World Bank's World Governance Indicators (WGI)

--International Transparency's Corruption Perception Index (CPI)

Dear Plopeanu,

Learning from the Hungarian example, changes in political culture would be the true denominator. However, this is a hardly quantifiable indicator. Also important could be civil society participation in local politics.  And further, trust in political institutions (Parliament, government, court, Constitutional Court) must be relevant.

Best,

Ferenc

Thank you all! Best, Aurelian

Dear Plopeanu Aurelian-Petrus,

As far as I know, it is difficult to search for variables which represent the "social" and "political" transformation. However, there is some possible ways. You should focus on "how people think of their political climate". for example, do they think it is more freely be expressed, can people feel more opened towards government, can they trust more to government, do they perceive that they can blame more openly to local government, do they participate more in decision making in local development affairs, etc. can be the variables that represent the political transformation. Concerning with "social transformation", in my view, it is important not to skew toward lifestyle changes. For this, people perceptions, such as can they participate more in community activities, can they have more get-together for discussion, can they form more civil society organization, etc, could be good variables that somehow reflect the social transformation. 

As we are now in transition, I am also searching such variables for my research in the field of political geography. 

I usually classify the political culture variables as cultural variables, different from social structure, economy and political / institutional sphere. ,That's why I didn't include political culture variables in my previous post.

A warning would be that  political culture changes very slowly. We can't expect that interpersonal trust or tolerance, for example, change quickly. This means that, in order to see them change, we need time series for long periods. Moreover, the series available don't include a lot of points, so the fluctuations due to short-term effects and measurement error makes us use these data with caution. 

That said, I think democracy support is a good variable to track. Satisfaction with Democracy and Confidence in Institutions are variables you must analyze, but be aware that usually democratization comes with high expectations that cannot be met. When initial hopes dilute, what comes is disappointment, the loss of confidence in institutions and perhaps low levels of satisfaction with the system. Support for democracy is usually much more stable.

Interpersonal trust is very stable and can be useful in a cross-national study. Tolerance  -for example, % population that discriminates / not discriminates against given groups-- may change over periods of 10 or more years. Political participation --%  population participating in petitions and demonstrations-- may fluctuate heavily due to short-terms effects. 

Then you have some other social capital variables. But take into account that % population which is member of  civil associations in general does not show association with democracy in most cross-national studies, although there are some specific associations --those linked to environmental issues, human rights, feminism, peace, culture, education- that are more promising. 

Well, there is more. You can find it in the literature on political culture.  

Book Cultura Política y Democracia en Argentina (Political Cultur...