The Sociological Study of Values |
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Authors: | Robert Wuthnow |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Sociology, 106 Wallace Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544;2. e‐mail: . |
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Abstract: | Fifty years ago, Robin M. Williams Jr. described eight notable changes in U.S. sociology, one of which was the “widespread diffusion of a relatively clear and sophisticated conception of the place of values in sociological study, as an object of research, as a factor in behavior, and as an element to be controlled in the prosecution of research” (Williams, 1958:621). In this essay, I ask what has become of that rising interest in the sociological study of values? I follow three distinct trajectories of sociological research on values, briefly describing the contributions of each, and identifying several lines of inquiry that strike me as particularly important and promising for the future. |
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Keywords: | culture measurement Robin M Williams Jr values |
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