ABSTRACT
This chapter clarifies what values are when they exist as well as to indicate how a few values occur with people today. The chapter discusses Converses thesis that values as value orientations are merely patterns of attitudes in order to suggest an alternative position. It deals with the micro and macro relationships between values. New politics is the common label for whole set of new phenomena that cannot be fitted into the image of politics as an ideological struggle between the left and right. The indicators on the occurrence of individualism, achievement orientation, post-materialism and trust allows one to carry out both micro and macro research. Countries characterized by a high level of social trust tend to promote equality between men and women to a considerable degree. The close connection between affluence and individualism is one of the major findings in the research into values. When resources are abundant, then men and women opt for personal integrity and individual self-expression.
