America's Crisis of Values: Reality and Perception

327 Pages·2005·13.714 MB·English

by  Wayne E. Baker

America’s Crisis of Values
(cid:2)

America’s
Crisis of Values
REALITY AND PERCEPTION
(cid:2)
Wayne Baker
princeton university press
princeton and oxford
Copyright © 2005 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SY
All Rights Reserved
Second printing, and first paperback printing, 2006
Paperback ISBN-13: 978-0-691-12787-3
Paperback ISBN-10: 0-691-12787-5
The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition of this book as follows
Baker, Wayne E.
America’s crisis of values : reality and perception / Wayne Baker.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-691-11794-2 (cl : alk. paper)
1. Social values—United States. 2. Social ethics—United States. 3. United States—
Social conditions. 4. United States—Moral conditions. I. Title.
HN79.M6B35 2005
303.3(cid:2)72(cid:2)0973—dc22
2004044536
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Goudy
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
pup.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
To the memory of my parents,
Wendell Hayes Baker and
Evelyn Cotton Baker
(cid:2)

(cid:2) Contents (cid:2)
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xv
chapter one
A Question of Values 1
The Widespread Perception of Crisis 2
Three Ways to Think About a Crisis of Values—Loss,
Unfavorable Comparison, and Division 6
Threats to America as an Imagined Community 10
Conclusion 13
chapter two
America’s Values in Global Context 17
Two Dimensions of Cultural Variation and Change 18
Global Cultural Maps 22
Loss of Traditional Values 35
Unfavorable Comparisons with Other Societies 38
Why Have Some Values Changed and Others Stayed the Same? 42
Conclusion 61
chapter three
Culture War 64
The Culture War Thesis 65
The Polarization of Americans 73
Linkage of the Hierarchy of Beliefs 85
The Connection between Social Capital and Moral Visions 95
Is There an American Culture War—Could There Be? 103
Conclusion 107
chapter four
Dynamics of Crisis 110
Tides of American History 112
vii
contents
An Interpretation of the Dynamics of Crisis 134
Conclusion 156
chapter five
The Search for Meaning 159
Mixed Systems, Cultural Contradictions,
and Cognitive Dissonance 161
Rising Spirituality and the “New Age” 166
The Special Role of Absolutism in America 173
An Integration of Opposites 180
Summary of Key Findings 183
appendix a
World Values Surveys 189
appendix b
Statistical Tables 197
Notes 251
Index 299
viii
(cid:2) List of Illustrations (cid:2)
Figures
Figure2.1a. Locations of Sixty-five Societies on Two
Dimensions of Cross-cultural Variation: World Values
Surveys, 1990–1991 and 1995–1998 23
Figure2.1b. Locations of Eighty-one Societies on Two
Dimensions of Cross-cultural Variation: World Values
Surveys, 1990–1991, 1995–1998, and 1999–2001 24
Figure2.2. Economic Zones for Sixty-five Societies on Two
Dimensions of Cross-cultural Variation 25
Figure2.3. Historically Protestant, Historically Catholic,
and Historically Communist Cultural Zones in Relation to
Two Dimensions of Cross-cultural Variation 33
Figure2.4. Change over Time in Location on Two Dimen-
sions of Cross-cultural Variation for Thirty-eight Societies 37
Figure2.5. Traditional/Secular-Rational Values by Year of
Birth for Four Types of Societies 46
Figure2.6. Traditional/Secular-Rational Values by Year of
Birth, United States 47
Figure2.7. Differences between the Religious Groups within
Religiously Mixed Societies on Two Dimensions of Cross-
cultural Variation 54
Figure2.8. Percentage of Self-Help and Advice Books on
National Nonfiction Best-Seller Lists, by Year, 1917–1997
(Smoothed Time-Series and Best Linear Fit) 58
Figure2.9. Survival/Self-Expression Values by Year of Birth
for Four Types of Societies 59
Figure2.10. Survival/Self-Expression Values by Year of
Birth, United States 61
Figure3.1. Simplified Illustration of Absolutism and Rela-
tivism as Radial Categories 69
Figure3.2. The Hierarchy of Beliefs 72
ix