European Values Studies - Böcker

Values are a hot topic in Europe, both in the public and political debate as well as in the social sciences. Is Europe a community of values? What are the cultural borders of the European Union? How united are Europeans with respect to their fundamental values? How does globalization affect European values? Do national values vanish?There is also a clear moral overtone in the debate: basic values are believed to erode, community values are waning, values become fragmented, and civic engagement is rapidly declining while hedonism and consumerism are prevailing. But are these far-reaching assumptions true? Answers are provided in this book.The three core issues that guide the various chapters in this book are the following: do basic values in European countries converge or diverge? Do we observe a marked decline in traditional values in European societies? Is it the youngest generation in Europe that embraces new values?

In 1981, the European and World Values surveys started the empirical investigation of cultural values on a global scale. This volume builds upon the findings of these surveys and analyzes value change in a number of key countries around the globe. The authors track value change and stability in their respective countries during the last decade (the last two decades where data are available) of the 20th century. All authors have been actively involved in value surveys and have a great deal of expertise in countries that they write on. Thus, the volume is a valuable complement to studies that deal with the topic from a global perspective without providing any detail about individual societies. The countries covered are: Argentina, Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States.