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Consensus and conflict : value collectives and social conflicts in contemporary German society
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Florence : European University Institute, 1997
EUI; SPS; PhD Thesis
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ROSSTEUTSCHER, Sigrid, Consensus and conflict : value collectives and social conflicts in contemporary German society, Florence : European University Institute, 1997, EUI, SPS, PhD Thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/5373
Abstract
Why art we interested in societal value orientations? Squeezed between utilitarianists, structuralists and constructionists the preoccupation with values and guiding ideals seems to be awkward, old-fashioned, even conservative, and certainly not at the forefront of academic fashion. The idea of values communicates the notion of settled beliefs and change resisting attitudes formulated in early childhood or adolescent experiences as well as suggesting continuity and stability of human conduct They refer to the unbroken transmission of attitudes and culture across generations and offer themselves as the explanation for the development of social and political lifestyles. Values also promise coherence and reliability. Too much stability? Too much pre-determination? Too much boredom for the contingency- trained post-modern brain? Values are supposed to be basic and powerful, but can this really still be convincing? Why do we not think of human beings as individualised rational choosers who act in pure accordance with preformulated and calculated interests? Why can we not see the world as a universe of contingency open to be re-interpreted and re-structured at any given point of time and space? What we have to prove, therefore, is the simple fact that values - or rather societal value orientations - still play a central role in the development of modem societies and the political conflicts that take place within these societies. Furthermore, we have to show that an emphasis on values can explain contemporary phenomena in a way that is superior or at least complementary to explanations resting on structural, constructionist or rational choice assumptions.
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Defence date: 27 June 1997
Examining board: Prof. Stefano Bartolini (EUI) ; Prof. Klaus Eder (Humboldt-Universität Berlin - Supervisor) ; Prof. Max Kaase (Wissenschaftzentrum Berlin) ; Prof. Jan W. van Deth (Universität Mannheim)
First made available online on 23 June 2017
Examining board: Prof. Stefano Bartolini (EUI) ; Prof. Klaus Eder (Humboldt-Universität Berlin - Supervisor) ; Prof. Max Kaase (Wissenschaftzentrum Berlin) ; Prof. Jan W. van Deth (Universität Mannheim)
First made available online on 23 June 2017