Word: moralisms
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Harris finds three catalysts for the "chemistry of change" that has affected the U.S. moral climate. Americans-especially black Americans-are increasingly alienated from traditional values and systems. At the same time, more people have come to share a greater compassion for the problems of others. Finally, affluence, a more mobile society and higher educational levels have combined to create an openness toward moral experimentation that, as Harris notes, has "never before been dreamed of in any society in the world's history...
This change in morality is most prominently approved by those in the upper reaches of achievement: professional men and women, the college-educated, the prosperous citizens of suburbia. They are joined by young people under 30 and, in many instances, by the blacks. The moral conservatives, those who still cling tightly to the old verities, are mainly to be found among those over 50 and in the lower-income, less-educated sectors, especially in small towns. In the matter of morality, there are virtually two Americas...
...Perhaps the most dramatic evidence in the entire poll on how rapidly American morality is changing," says the survey, "is the rise-and the admission of that rise-in what would surely have been considered highly serious moral infractions only a short time ago." The number of people who say that they know someone who commits adultery has risen from 24% to 36% since 1964; 15% now-v. 10% then-virtually admit to instances of adultery in their own family. In other areas, 13% know someone whose child uses marijuana, 59% know someone who drinks too much, 22% know someone...
Americans still readily invoke the conventional catalogue of moral precepts: 93% rate the Golden Rule as very important, and a large majority say that they turn to it for guidance when confronted with a moral dilemma. The statement that "nothing is more important than family love and respect" draws the approval of 90%, and "hard work pays off" has the assent of 79%. Similarly, 77% say that they turn for moral guidance to the values their parents taught them, and 73% look to "the religious rules I was raised...
Still, individualism has not lost its hold on the American psyche. In a moral crisis, most people say that they depend on their conscience to be their guide rather than on any external authority. Among whites, 45% believe that a man should depend on himself and not ask for favors; 53% of blacks agree. Yet 66% of the blacks questioned by Harris' interviewers contended that '"it helps to know people" in getting ahead, while only 33% of the whites thought so. Again, "If you don't look out for yourself, nobody else will" is a statement accepted...