284 - Understanding Human Values: Individual and Societal

Understanding Human Values: Individual and Societal
By Milton Rokeach, ed.
New York, The Free Press, 1979. 322 pp. $14.95.

Rokeach's long interest in human values and his conviction that value is the central concept for the social sciences lead him to present this excellent collection of eighteen articles, of which he has written nearly half. Most are published here for the first time with a variety of significant investigations about values from various disciplines.

Important new research on the possibilities of effecting change in values is of special interest. Rokeach builds on his earlier research, as do others, with respect to inducing selfawareness about inconsistencies in personal values, sometimes with the aid of computer feedback. Implications of research point to alternatives both to behavior modifications and to values clarification - appealing topics

285 - Understanding Human Values: Individual and Societal

for teachers. Ethical issues are raised, with some research already begun.

Another area of interest concerns the way political ideologies cluster in relation to the values of freedom and equality. We have information about persisting and changing values with a substantive overview in the chapter by Robin Williams. In fact, the book is of such high quality that most scholars in values disciplines may wish to own it.

Sara Little
Union Theological Seminary
Richmond, Va.