The Human Component of Social Change.

密歇根大学罗纳德·英格尔哈特·乔恩·米勒这笔赠款为第五波世界价值观调查的美国部分提供了田野调查的资金；并在这项调查中增加了一系列关于公众对科学和技术的态度的问题，这项调查将在所有六个有人居住的大陆的50到60个国家进行。世界价值观调查(WVS)提供了有关世界人口占多数的国家的大众价值观和态度的唯一数据来源。WVS提供了数十个国家25年期间的数据，这一事实使开展跨层分析成为可能，(1)审查经济和技术变革对人们价值观的影响；(2)分析个人层面的价值观和信仰对社会层面现象的影响，如社会拥有民主机构的程度。这个项目将为这些调查增加一个新的维度，使用过去20年来在NSF赞助的研究中经过测试和验证的项目来衡量大众对科学和技术的态度。目前围绕干细胞研究和转基因作物等话题的争议清楚地表明，这些态度具有重要的社会影响。从世界价值观调查的前四次浪潮中可以看出，人们在政治、宗教、性别角色、工作动机和性规范方面的取向正在发生变化“，他们对育儿的态度、对外国人和男女同性恋者的宽容以及对科学和技术的态度也在改变。是什么在推动这些变化？一种理论认为，生存是一个如此核心的目标，以至于当它不安全时，一个人的一生战略是由最大化经济和物质安全的需要塑造的。近几十年来，在发达的工业社会中，很大一部分人在成长过程中认为生存是理所当然的，这导致他们越来越高度重视自我表达、个人自主和生活质量问题。这套理论体系帮助塑造了WVS调查的设计，并将使用新一轮调查的数据来进一步测试和发展它。但这些调查的内容也是由来自所有六个有人居住的大洲的数十人决定的，调查挖掘了从社会资本和对制度的信心的演变到文化和技术创造力背后的因素，再到公众对科学和技术态度的变化等各种其他问题。除了制作数百本学术书籍和文章外，WVS的研究结果还通过《纽约时报》、《华盛顿邮报》、《经济学人》、《大西洋月刊》、《哈珀杂志》、《时代》和《新闻周刊》上的文章向更广泛的受众展示。WVS提供了一个集体资源，已被数千名社会科学家使用。从2005年10月至12月，33 557名学生和学者访问了世界价值观调查网站，3249人下载了这些调查的数据。这些数据还被许多社会科学家用于教学目的，并作为社会学、美国政府、比较政治学和人类学教科书的补充。根据一家出版商的说法，每年有超过5万名学生在他们的教科书中使用WVS数据。

SES- 0622497Ronald InglehartJon MillerUniversity of MichiganThe grant provides funds for fieldwork for the U.S. component of the fifth wave of the World Values Survey; and to add a battery of questions concerning public attitudes toward science and technology to this survey, which will be carried out in 50 to 60 countries on all six inhabited continents. The World Values Survey (WVS) provides the only source of data on mass values and attitudes from countries containing a majority of the world's population. The fact that the WVS provides data from scores of countries over a 25 year period makes it possible to carry out cross-level analyses, (1) examining the impact of economic and technological change on people's values; and (2) analyzing the impact of individual-level values and beliefs on societal-level phenomena such as the extent to which a society has democratic institutions. This project will add a new dimension to these surveys, measuring mass attitudes toward science and technology, using items that have been tested and validated in research sponsored by the NSF during the past two decades. Current controversy over such topics as stem cell research and genetically modified crops makes it clear that these attitudes have important societal implications.Evidence from the first four waves of the World Values Survey demonstrate that people's orientations concerning politics, religion, gender roles, work motivations, and sexual norms are changing "along with their attitudes toward child-rearing, their tolerance of foreigners, gays and lesbians and their attitudes toward science and technology. What is driving these changes? One body of theory argues that survival is such a central goal that when it is insecure, one's entire life strategy is shaped by the need to maximize economic and physical security. In advanced industrial societies in recent decades, a large segment of the population has grown up taking survival for granted, leading them to give increasingly high priority to self-expression, individual autonomy and quality of life issues. This body of theory has helped shape the design of the WVS surveys, and will use the data from the new wave of surveys to test and develop it further. But the content of these surveys has also been shaped by scores of people from all six inhabited continents, and the surveys tap a variety of other concerns ranging from the evolution of social capital and confidence in institutions to the factors underlying cultural and technological creativity, to changing public attitudes toward science and technology.Broader impactsWorld Value Survey data are used by numerous researchers to analyze social change. In addition to producing hundreds of scholarly books and articles, findings from the WVS have been presented to a wider audience through articles in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's Magazine, Time and Newsweek. The WVS provides a collective resource that has been used by thousands of social scientists. From October through December 2005, 33,557 students and scholars visited the World Values Survey web site, and 3,249 individuals downloaded data from these surveys. These data have also been used for instructional purposes by many social scientists, and as a supplement to textbooks in sociology, American government, comparative politics and anthropology. According to one publisher, over 50,000 students per year use WVS data with their textbooks.