Are American Values
Changing?
Below you will find two charts each describing two sets of values that exist in our society.
They may represent a new set of values that are replacing more traditional values. Read them carefully.
Questions for guiding you in a written response are listed at the bottom of the page.
Daniel Yankelovich (New Rules, 1981) argues that there has been a shift from traditional values to what he calls the "New Breed" values.
| Traditional - Values | New Breed - Values |
| Individualism | Involvement |
| Competition | Cooperation |
| Achievement | Equality |
| Patriotism | Tolerance |
| Work | "Good life" |
Sam Keen agrees that there are two sets of values in the US which he calls the values of "workers" and "lovers."
(Quest Magazine -1981)
| Workers | Lovers |
| Their psychological center is in: profession, job, work, doing, accomplishment, possessions, consuming, productivity, competition. | Their psychological center is in: amateur activities, being, experiencing, relationships, enjoying, creativity, cooperation. |
| They
value: winning, efficiency tough-mindedness,
pragmatism, material comfort, progress, experts,
quantitative measurements. Motto: More is better |
They value: sharing, openness, a path with heart, mysticism, "spiritual" experience, growth generalists - disintermediation, qualitative measurements. Motto: Small is beautiful. |
| Their metaphors for understanding life are taken from machines. The body is a machine, the mind a computer, a product of conditioning, a stimulus-response mechanism. | Their metaphors for understanding life are taken from agriculture. The body is humus, the mind a part of the pattern that connects all of nature in a single ecological system. |
| Workers nearly always wear watches, live by measured, chronological time. Type a consciousness. | Lovers are tuned in to their body rhythms, feelings, moods, the movements of stars and seasons. Type B consciousness. |
| Nature is seen as the source of raw materials, as parks for recreation, or as factories for agribusiness. Land is property that I have a right to own and exploit as I please. It is a form of capital that may be accumulated, and utilized for private profit. | Nature is seen as our matrix, a sacred, living environment that we must respect, as a web of kinship. Land is a trust we must husband, the soil is a part of the definition of human beings; place and persona are joined in a synergistic union. |
| Their tribe is the corporation. They belong with their associates, tend to move often, and have few close friends but many acquaintances. Often lonely and isolated. | They are rooted within their friendships, their families, their communities, their locales. Thus they are sometimes engulfed and stifled and unable to break ties that could lead to positive changes. |
| They dream of a technological future, an information society with computerized communication networks, a planned expanding economy, a brave new world without illness or poverty. | They dream of establishing an ecologically sound, decentralized society with appropriate small-scale technologies and regional independence. Ecotopia. |
1. Do your values match either of the four categories listed above?
2. Do you know people who all fit these value profiles?
3. Do you think that these categories are related
to gender?
In other words are women more likely to be "lovers" and
men "workers"?
4. Do you think these value clusters are related to
social class?
Do you think that they represent values of the college educated
middle class (professionals) but not values found among working
class people?