Wheels of Time and the Interdependence of Value Change in America

Abstract

Wheels of Time and the Interdependence of Value Change in America If all social science research is inquisitive, many value studies are surely meddlesome. When harmless, knowledge of the next man's follies is but an occasion for merriment. When critical, such information first provides opportunities for scorn and then justifications for the exorcism of the poor devil's evil values. The never flagging interest in descriptions of wayward youth, deprived families, races, and other undesirables comes therefore as no great surprise, although the practical implications of such investigations remain rarely far afield. In opposition to description, explanation appears in a different light. Here, the interest is in the why and how of value contrasts among peoples of all kinds and the way values affect their lives. Causal queries, then, are far more philosophical and so are questions about the form or shape of value change. As an example of the latter, consider the question: In values, is there progress? This is to ask not only whether our actions approach some ideal and universal goal but, more importantly, whether these goals themselves continuously improve, e.g., from barbaric to ever more civilized. Or, contrarily, is value change a process of decay? With these questions in mind, it is my contention that the history of value change is neither progressive nor regressive, but basically cyclical. I shall therefore try to demonstrate the plausibility of this assertion; relate cycles of change in a variety of values, thereby delineating the underlying structure of the cyclical findings, or The Wheel of Time; attempt to interpret the meaning of the wheel; and then conclude with a speculation about its possible causes.