The Human Component of Social Change.

ronald InglehartJon miller密歇根大学这项拨款为世界价值观调查第五次浪潮美国部分的实地调查提供资金；并在这项调查中加入一系列有关公众对科学技术态度的问题，该调查将在所有六个有人居住的大洲的50到60个国家进行。世界价值观调查（WVS）提供了关于世界上大多数人口的国家的大众价值观和态度的唯一数据来源。世界人口指数提供了几十个国家在25年期间的数据，这使得进行跨水平分析成为可能，(1)检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，如社会拥有民主制度的程度。这个项目将为这些调查增加一个新的维度，测量大众对科学和技术的态度，使用的项目在过去二十年中由美国国家科学基金会赞助的研究中经过测试和验证。目前关于干细胞研究和转基因作物等话题的争论清楚地表明，这些态度具有重要的社会意义。世界价值观调查的前四波证据表明，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，同时他们对养育子女的态度、对外国人、同性恋者的容忍度以及对科学技术的态度也在发生变化。是什么推动了这些变化？一种理论认为，生存是一个中心目标，当它不安全时，一个人的整个生活策略就会被最大化经济和身体安全的需求所塑造。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把生存视为理所当然，这导致他们越来越重视自我表达、个人自主和生活质量问题。这一理论体系帮助塑造了WVS调查的设计，并将使用新一波调查的数据来进一步测试和发展它。但这些调查的内容也受到了来自所有六个有人居住的大洲的数十人的影响，调查还涉及了其他各种问题，从社会资本的演变和对制度的信心，到文化和技术创造力的潜在因素，再到公众对科学和技术态度的变化。更广泛的影响世界价值调查的数据被许多研究人员用来分析社会变化。除了出版数百本学术书籍和文章外，世界调查小组的研究结果还通过《纽约时报》、《华盛顿邮报》、《经济学人》、《大西洋月刊》、《哈珀杂志》、《时代周刊》和《新闻周刊》的文章向更广泛的读者介绍。WVS提供了一个已被成千上万的社会科学家使用的集体资源。从2005年10月到12月，33557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。这些数据也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。据一家出版商称，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.