This influential theorist examines changing values and motivations across generations and cultures. His work explores how economic development and global events shape human behavior, from gender roles to the spread of democracy. He investigates the impacts of modernization on society, seeking to understand the dynamics of values on a global scale.
Focusing on cosmopolitan communications, this book presents a novel theoretical framework that examines how global interactions can threaten cultural diversity. It explores the specific conditions that lead to these dangers, offering insights into the dynamics of communication in a globalized world.
This book demonstrates that although advanced societies have been moving toward secular orientation, the world has more people with traditional religious views.
The Human Development Sequence
The book offers a redefined perspective on modernization theory, exploring its evolution and relevance in contemporary contexts. It critically examines traditional concepts, addressing their limitations and proposing new frameworks for understanding social and economic development. By integrating historical insights and current case studies, it aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of how societies transform and adapt in the modern world. This revised approach encourages readers to rethink established ideas and engage with the complexities of modernization.
Authoritarian populist parties have advanced in many countries, and entered government in states as diverse as Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland. Even small parties can still shift the policy agenda, as demonstrated by UKIP's role in catalyzing Brexit. Drawing on new evidence, this book advances a general theory why the silent revolution in values triggered a backlash fuelling support for authoritarian-populist parties and leaders in the US and Europe. The conclusion highlights the dangers of this development and what could be done to mitigate the risks to liberal democracy.
"A culture of trust is usually claimed to have many public benefits, by lubricating markets, managing organizations, legitimating governments, and facilitating collective action. If so, any signs of eroding trust are, and should be, a matter of serious concern. But the broader perspective developed in this book recognizes that trust has two faces, not one. Confidence in anti-vax theories has weakened herd immunity. Faith in Q-Anon conspiracy theories triggered violent insurrection. Disasters flow from gullible beliefs in fake Covid-19 cures, Madoff pyramid schemes and the Big Lie denying President Biden's legitimate election. Trustworthiness involves an informal social contract by which principals authorize agents to act on their behalf in the expectation that they will fulfil their responsibilities with competency, integrity and impartiality, despite conditions of risk and uncertainty. Skeptical judgments reflect reasonably accurate and informed predictions about agents' future actions based on their past performance and guardrails deterring dishonesty, mendacity, and corruption. We should trust but verify. Unfortunately, assessments are commonly flawed. Both cynical beliefs (underestimating performance) and credulous faith (over-estimating performance) involve erroneous judgements reflecting cultural biases, poor cognitive skills, and information echo chambers. These conclusions draw on new evidence from the European Values Survey/World Values Survey conducted among over 650,000 respondents in more than 100 societies over four decades. In Praise of Skepticism warns that an excess of credulous trust poses serious and hitherto unrecognized risks in a world full of seductive demagogues playing on our insecurities, lying swindlers exploiting our greed, and silver-tongued conspiracy theorists manipulating our darkest fears"-- Provided by publisher