American And European Values

Value shift in Western Studies : modernization and individualization as basic features of advanced society (religion - politics - work - primary relationships) - Comparative research on values : concept, measuring, cross-cultural comparability - Religion, churches and moral values - Political culture, patterns of poliitical orientations and behaviour - Primary relations in Western societies - Changing work values - Value patterns and modernity - environmental concern and offering willingness in Europe and North America - Individualization of the life course and cultural divergence between age groups - lisrel - mortality rate - demographic trends - abortion

The European Values Study is a large-scale, cross-national, and longitudinal survey research program on basic human values, initiated by the European Value Systems Study Group (EVSSG) in the late 1970s, at that time an informal grouping of academics. Now, it is carried on in the setting of a foundation, using the (abbreviated) name of the group European Values Study (EVS). The EVSSG aimed at designing and conducting a major empirical study of the moral and social values underlying European social and political institutions and governing conduct. A rich academic literature has now been created around the original survey, and numerous other works have made use of the findings.

American and European Values: Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives is a collection of essays by contemporary scholars considering key aspects of intersection and encounter between American and European values in the contemporary world. The truly international makeup of twenty-one contributors enlivens the book's theme in surprising, and frequently edifying ways. The authors consider, in places with revealing frankness, the cultural sensibilities unique to America and Europe, key historical philosophic figures, from John Dewey, Josiah Royce, and William James to Jean-Paul Sartre, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Mikhail Bakhtin. They also take up various philosophic trends and movements unique to the American and European traditions, including pragmatism, existentialism, phenomenology, and logical-linguistic analysis. Readers interested in deepening their understanding of the increasingly vital philosophical problems that continue to emerge with growing trends of globalization are invited into this rich conversation.

Who are the Europeans? How do they think? What values do they hold dear? What binds them and what divides them? This atlas summarizes the outcomes of the European Values Study, combined with results from the World Values Survey, two projects that have measured values over the past three decades. The European Values Study project is run by researchers from 33 countries and is administered by Tilburg University, the Netherlands. The Atlas presents European ideas and beliefs in the form of graphs, charts and maps. Values such as democracy, freedom, equality, human dignity and solidarity are held by almost all Europeans, but the survey points to differing views about marriage, religion, work and such topics as euthanasia, happiness, sexuality and death. This unique Atlas covers all European nations from Iceland to Turkey, from Portugal to the Ukraine. It graphically illustrates the rich diversity that is Europe.

In his analysis of Europe's ambivalence toward jihadist terror and the spread of aggressive Islamism, with particular emphasis on the European responses—or lack thereof—to this violent anti-modernism, Russell A. Berman describes how some European countries opt for appeasement and apologetics, whereas others muster the strength to defend their way of life and stand up for freedom. He describes a complex continent of different nations and traditions to further our understanding of the range of reactions to Islamism.

This book provides insights in and explanations of the varieties and similarities in values in Europe in a number of life spheres at the turn of the millennium.

The book addresses contemporary developments in European identity politics as part of a larger historical trajectory of a common European identity based on the idea of 'solidarity.' The authors explain the special sense in which Europeans perceive their obligations to their less fortunate compatriots, to the new East European members, and to the world at large. An understanding of this notion of 'solidarity' is critical to understanding the specific European commitment to social justice and equality. The specificity of this term helps to distinguish between what the Germans call "social state" from the Anglo-Saxon, and particularly American, political and social system focused on capitalism and economic liberalism. This collection is the result of the work of an extremely distinguished group of scholars and politicians, invited by the previous President of the European Union, Romano Prodi, to reflect on some of the most important subjects affecting the future of Europe.