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5 - The Truly Important Things in Life
- Edited by Gabriël van den Brink
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- Book:
- Moral Sentiments in Modern Society
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 02 February 2021
- Print publication:
- 15 February 2016, pp 167-192
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Summary
In the previous chapters, we argued that moral sentiments have become less significant in the public domain. Many Dutch citizens say that they experience a certain hardening of the social climate or even an increase in aggressive behaviour. In this chapter, we examine the extent to which moral values have eroded in their private lives. To determine what values or ideals Dutch citizens consider important, we conducted a survey in 2010 in which we asked respondents how they viewed the concept of ‘something higher’, defined as the imagination of a whole to which I feel committed and that motivates me to act in an altruistic way. We wanted to see whether their answers could be linked to certain values of a religious or spiritual nature and also whether they could be linked to the way in which they put their ideals into practice. The respondents’ socio-demographic details and their recent views on social and political affairs were already available, which allowed us to keep the survey short. The questionnaire began with a series of questions about the respondents’ personal values. We then asked some questions about religion, followed by a few questions about volunteer work. In the final section of the survey, we explicitly asked for their views on the concept of ‘something higher’.
In presenting the results of the survey, we have reversed the sequence that was used in the questionnaire. We first share the respondents’ explanations of their understanding of the concept of ‘something higher’ (section 1), and we illustrate this with a few examples (section 2). We then link this to something already discussed in chapter 2, where we made a distinction between values of a sacred, social and vital nature (section 3). An important point is whether these results can be tied in with the level of interest in the church in the Netherlands (section 4) or to a more spiritual interest (section 5). After outlining the socio-demographic backgrounds underlying the different views on the concept of ‘something higher’ (section 6), we ask about our respondents’ willingness to help others.
9 - Signs of Moral Resilience
- Edited by Gabriël van den Brink
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- Book:
- Moral Sentiments in Modern Society
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 02 February 2021
- Print publication:
- 15 February 2016, pp 291-318
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Summary
Preceding chapters explored different facets of the complex relationship between morality and modernity. Chapters 3 and 4 revealed that certain features of the modern way of life have a negative impact insofar as they discourage the tendency towards moral behaviour. This is particularly evident in the public domain. Likewise, we saw that sometimes it works differently in that modernisation does not result in the elimination but rather the alteration of moral commitments. Chapters 5 and 6 illustrated that this applies in particular to citizens’ lifestyles. Finally, we also discovered that, in certain areas, moral sensitivity is actually growing stronger, a tendency that was illustrated in chapters 7 and 8 with regard to professional life. In the present chapter we discuss a final possibility, namely that modern existence does not have any impact on the moral values of citizens. It may even be that those values are used to compensate for or to counteract certain drawbacks of modernisation.
The best known example of such compensation is the welfare state that developed in various European countries after the Second World War. The welfare state is an arrangement that fulfils many economic, social and political functions while also having moral implications. Its purpose is, after all, to protect people from the adverse effects of illness, old age, unemployment and other risks inherent in the functioning of a market economy. Its costs are largely borne by corporations and the citizens themselves, and the welfare state can therefore be regarded as an organised form of solidarity. It is questionable whether such an arrangement can survive without any kind of moral commitment. There are, however, two reasons why we will sidestep questions about the welfare state in this chapter. First, this book is not concerned with the state, politics or government but rather modern society. Second, the currently existing form of the welfare state is undergoing a radical transformation of which the outcome is anything but clear. We therefore focus on several forms of moral commitment that seem to be immune to modern dynamics or that, in fact, provide evidence of moral resilience.
This commitment can take many forms. We begin by asking whether and to what extent religious traditions provide a certain counterweight to modern life (section 1).
6 - Changes in Norms and Values
- Edited by Gabriël van den Brink
-
- Book:
- Moral Sentiments in Modern Society
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 02 February 2021
- Print publication:
- 15 February 2016, pp 193-224
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Summary
In this chapter we argue that moral values in modern Dutch society have not disappeared but rather changed. This change is clearly visible if we compare today's society with that of a few decades ago. We already focused on the negative aspects of this change in previous chapters. Here we would like to emphasise the positive developments that have taken place, for example the greater equality between men and women, and the increased focus on individual responsibility and self-development. From this we can infer that what has changed over the years is primarily the content of our moral sentiments. Such a change in the content of morality does not occur out of the blue, of course; our contention is that it ensued from the gradual modernisation of society. This is in any case the hypothesis that we will be testing in this chapter on the basis of empirical survey data.
We are certainly not the first to study the relationship between changes in values and modernisation. A well-known and widely used theory on (post-)modernisation is that of Ronald Inglehart. Below, we present the main ideas of this theory. We then analyse whether the theory applies to the Netherlands and if so, to what extent. Most of the empirical data we use here is derived from the European Values Study (EVS), a large-scale research project that has been conducted every nine years from 1981, offering insights into key developments over the last thirty years. Because the EVS is conducted in all countries within Europe, we can compare the data for the Netherlands with the rest of Europe. This is relevant because national contexts play a crucial role, particularly with regard to values. The survey includes many questions that reveal how respondents perceive matters such as religion, work, politics, leisure, health and family life. It thus constitutes a unique source for our research.
We begin with a brief outline of Inglehart's view of the process of modernisation (section 1). We also assess the position of the Netherlands vis-a-vis other European countries (section 2). Then we look at how the values of individual Dutch citizens have changed in recent decades (section 3) and which values experienced the most significant change (section 4).