ABSTRACT
This chapter explains what values are when they exist as well as to indicate how a few values occur with people. It discusses P. Converse’s thesis that values as value orientations are merely patterns of attitudes in order to suggest an alternative position. The chapter deals with the micro and macro relationships between values. The inquiry into value orientations tends to use quantitative methods as a response to the abundantly available data about attitudes. The theory about the growth in postmaterialism is a very well-known example of an idea targeting value change and its consequences. Value changes are primarily important for the analysis of policy changes in the advanced democracies. The relevance of values in politics can be very transparent, as when a few new values emerge, changing the preferences of both politicians and the voters. The separation between specific and diffuse value impacts can be made in relation to both micro and macro outcomes.
