Suggestions of the Postmodern Self: Value Changes in American High School Students,1976

Abstract

Following Allen and Turner's suggestion “to bring data to bear on the claims of postmodern theory,” this article evaluates one aspect of Kenneth Gergen's theory of social saturation. In The Saturated Self, Gergen proposes that the postmodern self can be seen in the increase in the number and diversity of values that individuals hold to be important. This “populating of the self” also leads to an abandonment of modernist ideas about truth and absolute knowledge. Using data from a nationally representative sample of American high school seniors, I test Gergen's theory about change in the values of individuals. Between 1976 and 1996 the importance of most values in the survey has increased, with only one of the fourteen values (finding meaning in life) declining in importance. These results support Gergen's theory of social saturation and provide an example of an empirical evaluation of a postmodern theory.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Allan

Kenneth

Turner

Jonathan H.

, 2000. “A Formalization of Postmodern Theory.” Sociological Perspectives 43:363–85.

Baudrillard

Jean

. [1976] 1993. Symbolic Exchange and Death. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Best

Steven

Kellner

Douglas

. 1997. The Postmodern Turn New York: Guilford Press.

Bluestone

Barry

Bennett

Harrison

. 1982. The Deindustrialization of America. New York: Basic Books.

Easterlin

Richard A.

Crimmins

Eileen M.

, 1991. “Private Materialism, Self-Fulfillment, Family Life, and Public Interest: The Nature, Effects, and Causes of Recent Changes in the Values of American Youth.” Public Opinion Quarterly 55:499–533.

Frobel

Folker

Heinrichs

Jurgen

Kreye

Otto

. [1977] 1982. The New International Division of Labour: Structural Unemployment in Industrialised Countries and Industrialisation in Developing Countries. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Gergen

Kenneth J.

1991. The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life New York: Basic Books.

Gibbins

John R.

Reimer

. 1995. “Postmodernism.” Pp. 301–31 in The Impact of Values, edited by Van Deth

J. W.

Scarbrough

, New York: Oxford University Press.

Giddens

Anthony

. 1990. The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

10.

Inglehart

Ronald

. 1977. The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Styles among Western Publics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

11.

Jameson

Frederic

. 1991. Postmodernism, Or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

12.

Johnston

Lloyd D.

Bachman

Jerald G.

O'Malley

Patrick M.

, 1998. Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of American Youth (12th-grade Survey), 1976–1997 [computer files]. Conducted by University of Michigan, Survey Research Center. ICPSR ed. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producer and distributor].

13.

Lemert

Charles

. 1990. “The Uses of French Structuralisms in Sociology.” Pp. 230–54 in Frontiers of Social Theory: The New Syntheses, edited by Ritzer

, New York: Columbia University Press.

14.

Lemert

Charles

. 2000. “Sailing in Postmodern Winds: Formal Methods in Uncertain Worlds.” Sociological Perspectives 43:387–97.

15.

Long

J. Scott

. 1997. Regression Models for Categorical and Limited Dependent Variables. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

16.

Lyotard

Jean-François

. [1979] 1984. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

17.

Peterson

Richard A.

Kern

Roger M.

, 1996. “Changing Highbrow Taste: From Snob to Omnivore.” American Sociological Review 61:900–907.

18.

Raudenbush

Stephen

Bryk

Anthony

Cheong

Yuk Fai

Congdon

Richard

. 2000. HLM 5: Hierarchical Linear and Nonlinear Modeling. Lincolnwood, IL: Scientific Software International.

19.

Reich

Robert B.

1991. The Work of Nations. New York: Vintage Books.

20.

Rokeach

Milton

. 1967. Value Survey. Sunnyvale, CA: Halgren Tests.

21.

Rokeach

Milton

. 1973. The Nature of Human Values. New York: Free Press.

22.

Simmons

Dale D.

Penn

J. Roger

. 1994. “Stability and Sharing of Value Norms among American University Student Cohorts in 1970, 1980 and 1990.” Journal of Social Psychology 134:69–78.

Suggestions of the Postmodern Self: Value Changes in American High School Students,1976–1996

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References