A01=Wayne E. Baker
Abolitionism
American Capitalism
American exceptionalism
Anomie
Antinomianism
Antithesis
Attitude (psychology)
Author_Wayne E. Baker
Authoritarianism
Category=JBCC
Category=JBFV
Clash of Civilizations
Cognitive dissonance
Condition of England question
Conspiracy theory
Controversy
Counterculture
Criticism
Cultural lag
Culture of fear
Culture war
Delusion
Demoralization (warfare)
Disruptive innovation
Distrust
Eclipse of Reason (Horkheimer)
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eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Ethical dilemma
Ethnocentrism
Extremism
Failed state
Fourth Great Awakening
Good and evil
Hate crime
Hostility
Ideology
Imperialism
Irrationality
Left-wing politics
Moral authority
Out of Revolution
Paradox
Path dependence
Percentage
Political religion
Politics
Postmodernism
Pragmatism
Protestantism
Pseudoscience
Puritans
Rebuke
Relativism
Religion
Religious war
Respondent
Right-wing politics
Secularization
Sedition
Self-expression values
Separation of church and state
Separatism
Skewness
Social conservatism
Social issue
Society of the United States
Spirituality
The American Crisis
The Closing of the American Mind
Total war
Unrest
Value (ethics)
War
World Values Survey
Product details
- ISBN 9780691127873
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 23 Jul 2006
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Is America bitterly divided? Has America lost its traditional values? Many politicians and religious leaders believe so, as do the majority of Americans, based on public opinion polls taken over the past several years. But is this crisis of values real? This book explores the moral terrain of America today, analyzing the widely held perception that the nation is in moral decline. It looks at the question from a variety of angles, examining traditional values, secular values, religious values, family values, economic values, and others. Using unique data from the World Values Surveys, the largest systematic attempt ever made to document attitudes, values, and beliefs around the world, this book systematically evaluates the perceived crisis of values by comparing America's values with those of over 60 other nations. The results are surprising. The evidence shows overwhelmingly that America has not lost its traditional values, that the nation compares favorably with most other societies, and that the culture war is largely a myth. The gap between reality and perception does not represent mass ignorance of the facts or an overblown moral panic, Baker contends.
Rather, the widespread perception of a crisis of values is a real and legitimate interpretation of life in a society that is in the middle of a fundamental transformation and that contains growing cultural contradictions. Instead of posing a problem, the author argues, this crisis rhetoric serves the valuable social function of reminding us of what it means to be American. As such, it preserves the ideological foundation of the nation.
Wayne E. Baker is Professor of Management and Organizations and Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan, where he is also Faculty Associate at the Institute for Social Research, and Faculty Associate at the Nonprofit and Public Management Center.
