This book presents findings based on a unique source of insight into the role of human values--the World Values Survey and the European Values Survey, covering 78 societies containing over 80 per cent of the world's population. The findings reveal large and coherent cross-national differences in what people want out of life. Four waves of surveys, from 1981 to 1999-2001, reveal the impact of changing values on societal phenomena. Evidence from eleven Islamic societies demonstrates that a distinctive Islamic culture exists-but the democratic ideal is endorsed overwhelmingly. Other analyses examine Gender Equality and Democracy; Corruption and Democracy; Social Capital in Vietnam; the Clash of Civilization; political satisfaction in global perspective; Trust in International Governance; and Israeli and South African values.

In a spontaneously wide-ranging conversation one winter evening in Japan, sociologist of religion Bryan Wilson and Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda recognized the importance of explaining and learning about their respective worldviews. "Human Values in a Changing World" is the record of their further exchanges on how they see the religious response to the human condition. Their contrasting approaches - one, as an academic, and the other, as a lay Buddhist - allow for a constructive critique of preconceptions otherwise unexamined in their own cultural contexts."There is an intimate connection between faith and the fruits of commitment," Wilson says at one point. To which Ikeda responds that while the benefits of faith to momentary happiness are perhaps not the core value of a religion, they can inspire and lead people to become aware of that core value or fundamental truth. The two men's observations on the origins of religious sensibilities move from the spiritual and the moral to the politics of private and public life. Although published some years ago, "Human Values in a Changing World" addresses topics and issues which are of perennial importance to human flourishing, including: sexual morality, the limits of tolerance and religious freedom, the future of the family, the belief in an afterlife, and the idea of sin.

"The contribution in this volume focus on a wide range of issues concerning both human values and social change in the context of a multi-cultural and multi-civilizational world, including the perspectives of the social sciences and gandhian studies. It examines the varied dimensions of the search for values, the paradigmatic changes taking place in europe and the west and the questions pertaining to value education and spirituality, as well as the spell of Gandhi and the issues pertaining to non-violence, peace, humanism, colonialism and globalization. Many eminent sociologists, along with a wide range of distinguished scholars, including jurists, philosophers, monks, educationists, literateurs, administrators, political scientists, historians, gandhian scholars, peace activists, professors of andragogy and religion--both from India as well as abroad--have contributed to this festschrift, which is in honour of professor T.K.N. Unnithan, making it a representative, thought-provoking anthology on human values and social change."

This original and engaging book advocates an unabashedly empirical approach to understanding human values: abstract ideals that we consider important, such as freedom, equality, achievement, helpfulness, security, tradition, and peace. Our values are relevant to everything we do, helping us choose between careers, schools, romantic partners, places to live, things to buy, who to vote for, and much more. There is enormous public interest in the psychology of values and a growing recognition of the need for a deeper understanding of the ways in which values are embedded in our attitudes and behavior. How do they affect our well-being, our relationships with other people, our prosperity, and our environment? In his examination of these questions, Maio focuses on tests of theories about values, through observations of what people actually think and do. In the past five decades, psychological research has learned a lot about values, and this book describes what we have learned and why it is important. It provides the first overview of psychological research looking at how we mentally represent and use our values, and constitutes important reading for psychology students at all levels, as well as academics in psychology and related social and health sciences.

Provides a wealth of information about values and beliefs of people all over the world

This volume presents theoretical, methodological, and empirical advances in understanding, and also in the effects of understanding, individual and societal values.