ABSTRACT
The evolutionary transition from a materialist to a post-materialist value-normative system is widely discussed among social scientists. Elements of value-normative universalization and meritocracy in the ideology and political practices existed in Eastern European societies after the Second World War. Due to these controversial developments Eastern European societies did not manage to adapt to the ongoing worldwide process of value-normative universalization with focus on the ideas and practices of universal human rights in a timely and effective manner. The moderate factions in world religions are increasingly developing symbiotic trends with the modern secular sacred. The concepts and practices of universal human rights and meritocracy came from Western Europe and North America and spread worldwide later. Legal life, present day culture and politics worldwide are very much affected by the influence of both trends and their contradictions. This holds particularly true for the relationships of individual and collective human rights connected to ethnicity.
