Values and Change Over a Generation: Kelantan, Malaysia

Abstract

This article presents the results of two semantic differential studies that focus on cultural values and modernization, which were carried out in Kelantan, Malaysia, first in 1969 and the second in 2001.The results of these quantitative psychological anthropology studies, complimented by more than 3 years of traditional fieldwork, provide a finely textured means to assess both the direction and the degree of sociocultural change in what has been a very traditional, conservative, Islamic, peasant community, but which now, with some notable exceptions, appears to be rapidly modernizing. Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data resulting from our investigation, the authors discuss the continuing dominance of Islam in the conceptual and value system of virtually all Kelantanese Malays and some of its consequences for peace in the country and throughout the region.