Vietnamese Characteristics of Social Consciousness and Values — National Character, Differences between North and South, and Gaps Between the Vietnam War Generation and the Post-War Generation —

Abstract

This article explores the characteristics of Vietnamese social values identified in the Asia Pacific Values Survey’s 2013 Vietnam survey data. The questions used in this article fall into three categories: politics, international relations, and economics. I analyze the characteristics of Vietnamese with respect to three aspects. The first aspect is Vietnamese characteristics at the national level by comparing Vietnam with other nations. The second aspect is differences between the North and South areas. The third aspect is differences between the generation that experienced and remembers the Vietnam War and the young generation of the post-Vietnam War era. The most interesting group is the older generation of the South because they grew up in a democratic and capitalist society and now live in a communist society, and they experienced the Vietnam War. I mainly elucidate how their characteristics are different from or similar to those of other Vietnamese groups.