Inglehart’ın Değer Dönüşüm Teorisi: Akademisyenler Üzerine Bir İnceleme
Büşra Halis ÖztürkGünümüzün bilgi çağında ülkeler birbirleri ile sıkı bir etkileşim içerisindedir. Her ülkenin/toplumun kendine özgü değer yargıları ve tutumları bulunmakta ve toplumların zaman içerisinde değerlerinde değişimler yaşanabilmektedir. Çalışma hayatında da değişen koşullar ve şartlarla birlikte, her kuşağın çalışanlarının çalışma değerlerinde de farklılıklar görülmekte, özellikle de genç kuşakların değerlerini koruma konusunda yaşlı kuşaklara göre farklılık göstermeye başladığı söylenebilmektedir. Son yıllarda, çalışma değerlerindeki dönüşümleri, Inglehart’ın değer dönüşüm modeli ile ele alan yaygın bir eğilim mevcuttur. Söz konusu bu eğilimde, çalışma değerlerinde ücret ve iş güvenliği gibi dışsal/materyalist değerlerin önemini kaybettiği; kendini ifade etme ve otonomi gibi içsel/post materyalist değerlerin önem kazandığı savunulmakta ve bu dönüşümün yaşlılardan gençlere doğru evirildiği iddia edilmektedir. Bu çalışmada Inglehart’ın iddia ettiği gibi çalışma değerlerinde bir dönüşüm olup olmadığı, tespit edilmeye çalışılmış, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman Üniversitesi akademik personeli üzerine ampirik bir çalışma yapılmıştır. Toplamda 352 kişiden oluşan akademik personele anket yolu ile ulaşılmıştır. Inglehart’ın yaşlı kuşakların materyalist eğilimlerinin, genç kuşakların ise post materyalist eğilimlerinin daha yüksek olduğu iddiasından hareketle, bu araştırmanın sonuçlarına göre; Türkiye’de genç ve yaşlı kuşağın materyalist ve post materyalist değerleri arasında önemli bir farklılık bulunmamakla birlikte, bireylerin yaşları ilerledikçe post materyalist görüşe sahip oldukları ve içsel çalışma değerlerine daha fazla önem verdikleri sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.
Inglehart’s Theory of Value Transformation: An Application on Academics
Büşra Halis ÖztürkIn today’s information age, countries interact closely with each other. Each country or society has its own values. However, there may be changes in the values of societies in time. In integrated societies with the changing conditions in working life and information communication technologies, there are differences in working values of the employees of each generation, in particular, it can be said that young generations differ in terms of protecting the values of older generations. In recent years, there is a widespread tendency to handle the transformations in the study values with the value conversion model of Inglehart. As a result external /materialist values such as “wages and occupational safety” have lost their importance in their work values; self-expression and autonomy, such as “internal / post-materialist” values gain importance and it is claimed that this transformation evolved from the elderly to the youth. In this study, as alleged by the Inglehart, value the work of young and older generations in Turkey has tried to determine whether a conversion. With these values, an empirical study was carried out on the academic staff of Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University based on the value transformation model of Inglehart. Through a questionnaire were reached total of 352 academic staff members. Based on Inglehart’s claim, according to the results of this research; significant differences couldn’t find between the younger and older generations values in Turkey. It has been concluded that individuals have postmaterialist views as their age progresses and they give more importance to internal study values.
The values that form the focus of the study; philosophy, sociology, psychology, anthropology are among the topics discussed in the social sciences literature. However, the values have not been clarified conceptually. According to one of its common definitions values; is defined as the desired goals that vary from person to person and guide the lives of people. Values are dynamic; ıt varies from society to society, from person to person. In the life cycle, while the importance given to some of the values hierarchy increases, the importance given to some decreases. In this cycle, new beliefs and behaviors that are compatible with general changes are gained and new priorities and needs are developed for how to deal with changing situations. Values can be explained and interpreted both by the effect of individuals on attitudes and behaviors and the impact of different structural variables on values; ıt is very popular in the social sciences, as it allows for cross-cultural comparisons.
On the other hand, the subject of “work” as well as the subject of “values” has been the focus of interest in various disciplines from antiquity to the globalized world of today and researches have been made on it. Work, is one of the most important and basic requirements for people. It is an activity that benefits the individual both materially and morally in order to exist in social life. In addition, it is an important phenomenon that plays a role on the welfare and economic development of societies. The concept of work has different values and perceptions in different cultures. The work values related to the values and attitudes held for the study are narrower and include the importance given to the results of the study or the preferred results. When working values are mentioned, attitudes towards working in a society are understood. Therefore, the attitudes of a society towards work may differ in another society. While some societies develop a positive attitude towards work, others prioritize free time rather than work. In other words, the cultural characteristics and structure of the society in which it is located, is one of the variables that have an impact on the working values of individuals.
Researches on how to understand the working values in different societies and cultures and how they attach importance to these values remain important and ıt is also discussed how the values follow between young and old groups. Are there differences in value priorities between generations socializing with different values due to changes in cultural values as a result of social change? The subject of this study, by considering the age factor out whether the value change in Turkey, is to examine the factors that influence the value changes. Within the scope, the value model of Ronald Inglehart, which has an important effect on value studies, has been handled and evaluated accordingly.
The World Values Survey (WVS) conducted by Inglehart on six continents as of 1981, focuses on the transformation between generations in value orientations and this transformation is analyzed on the basis of underdeveloped and developed countries. These studies have shown that there are serious differences between younger generations and older generations in terms of value priorities. Especially in the Western world after the Second World War, it is possible to say that the lives of the generations are in prosperity. For this reason, it has shown that older generations give more importance to the priority of physical security and economic conditions, which are “materialistic values” and values that include self-expression and autonomy, which are “post-materialist” values as younger generations are passed. Inglehart states that due to its nature, the transgenerational value transformation is slow, but underlines that this transformation will be greater in the long run. Therefore, based on these results, even though the system of values is seen as stationary; ıt is influenced by culture, beliefs of individuals and the characteristics of the society in which they grow.
In the study, prior to 1980 in Turkey in the context of Inglehart’s thesis and taken some years after 1980 and Mugla Sıtkı Koçman University Academic Staff sample examined whether there is a difference in study values between those born before 1980 and after 1980. Accordingly, an attempt was made to seek answers to three basic hypotheses. The first is that one of the participants materialist or postmaterialist values is more dominant and this is different among those born in different years. The second is that one of the participants’ internal and external working values is more dominant and different between those born before and after 1980. The third is that the materialist values and the external values coincide with the post-materialist values and the internal values.