Values Around the World - 4 credits

How people think about what is most valuable and important in their lives varies by nationality, culture, and region. Values also vary by educational level and social standing within a country or region, and some values cut across whole countries and regions. How will the distribution of these values look in the future? Is the trend toward a homogenization (some say Americanization) of values into one strong global culture, or will there be a reaction against global culture and a trend toward emphasizing local and national cultural values? A major project in this course is to formulate hypotheses about global culture and to test them using the IDEA research from the World Value Study. Using the IDEA data drawn form random samples of people from more than 80 countries. Students will examine attitudes and values toward work, family, gender, minorities, technology, and modernization to test their hypotheses.