Abstract
The article is devoted to the analysis of the features of the influence of moral attitudes and moral assessments of social groups on their value priorities in conditions of social stability and social transformations. The analysis of empirical data allows us to conclude that people's commitment to opposite life goals is associated with their predisposition to opposite types of attitude to others. The basis of value conflicts is not just “opposite” in the sense of life goals, but life goals opposed to each other by representatives of diverse social communities. A person's commitment to one value and rejection of other values is accompanied by a positive and negative attitude towards the bearers of these values. Value conflict is associated with social conflict — a clash of groups of people with opposite interests. According to the theory of social schisms (social polarization) of S. Rokkan and S. Lipset, the basic conflicts arising because of the society transformation, cause the division of the population into layers with opposite interests and the formation of these layers of opposite value orientations. Splits first generate social tension in relations between social layers, and then lead to open clashes of representatives of these layers, to social conflicts, which are inextricably linked with value conflicts — a clash of beliefs in the priority of mutually exclusive (in a particular cultural and historical context) life goals. As a source of empirical data, the report uses the integrated database (1981–2014) of the world values Survey (WVS), which includes data from six waves of population surveys in most countries of the world. In this database there are variables that characterize moral attitudes (confidence in honesty or self-interest of the majority of people), objective and subjective social status (belonging to different strata of the population and self-identification with these strata) and value priorities (choice in favor of one of the opposite life goals). Analysis of the relationship of these variables suggests that people who adhere to intermediate assessments of the nature of their relationships with others and occupy middle positions in the social structure, tend to focus on a combination of opposite life goals. These people are more likely than those who take extreme positions in assessing the expected behavior of others and in the system of social status, to trust others and respect their right to independent choice of life goals. The increase in the proportion of these people in the population creates favorable conditions for the resolution of value conflicts
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