Changes in Social Values in the United States – 1976-2017: Is a New Age of Tribalism Emerging?

Social values, which represent society’s goals, ideals, and conceptions of preferred states (Kahle 1996), are dynamic and always changing. Thus, a continuous understanding of changes in values over time can provide insight into individuals and society. The current research builds upon three previous papers (Kahle and Timmer 1983; Kahle, Poulos, and Sukdial 1988; Gurel-Atay et al. 2010), expanding the view of changes in American social values across 40 years. Subtle trends in the previous 30 years now show a dramatic shift in social values in the last ten years which cuts across gender, age cohort, education, and ethnicity.