The Post-Modern Society: Which are the Basic Value-Orientations?

The micro research into political behaviour offers a wealth of information about the attitudes of citizens and other persons. The methodology of micro analysis deals with how to access and handle large data sources about these attitudes. In order to meet the standard criteria of scientific research, such as the principle of inter-subjectivity, theories about value orientations must be testable in relation to empirical data, accessible to the entire scientific community. How to meet this requirement? That is the subject of the so-called Converse’s rule. It links a theoretical construct in value research with the constraint in the responses of people to batteries of questions. We will exemplify Converse’s rule when examining the main theories of value orientations, such as trust theory, post-materialism and New Culture Theory. The crux of the matter in micro analysis of values is the evidential base of any concept of value orientation, be it social capital, social or civic permissiveness and egalitarianism. It is much easier to theorize these values than to pinpoint them in existing social reality by means of survey data. This fundamental problem of verifiability or falsifiability of value theories and their constructs must be resolved before one embarks upon macro analysis, which is all derived from micro analysis. The literature on attitudes among ordinary men and women in a variety of societies suggests that a few major value orientations would have social and political import. These fundamental value orientations have been researched separately at length in order to probe how relevant they are and how their strength varies over time. Yet, there is hardly any research on how these value orientations relate to each UDK: 316.644:32 Izvorni znanstveni članak Primljeno: 19. 11. 2008.