Shifting values driving towards After Capitalism

 Back in November, we did a ranking of the key drivers influencing the move to After Capitalism. We start with the top vote-getter, Shifting Values, which is described as: Values are shifting from traditional (follow the rules) and modern (achieve) to postmodern (search for meaning) and integral (make a difference).

Almost unnoticed by most –but not by our readers who voted this #1 –values are gradually shifting. Interestingly, values were  mentioned rather cursorily, if at all, in most of the After Capitalism book concepts I reviewed. My research, however, puts this shift front and center. The disruptive, radical, transformative change required to reach the three guiding images is very unlikely to be made with the current mindset or worldviews prevailing. They require a new way of thinking. The good news is that the shift is and has been happening. The bad news is that we have been stuck quicksand in recent times [see mean green meme].

The pattern, depicted below, is a shift from left to right: from traditional to modern to postmodern to integral.

Traditional values were once predominant, but eventually gave way to modern values, which are now the most prevalent type. But modern is slowing giving way to postmodern, which will eventually give way to integral. The percentage of the population of that type in the US is in parentheses. Globally, several affluent countries, including Sweden, Finland, Norway, The Netherlands, Denmark, Iceland,  New Zealand, Australia, and Canada, have with lower percentages of traditional values and higher percentages of postmodern ones, with about a dozen other countries close as well, including Japan and Germany.

The four types are:

• Traditional (@20-25%): The focus is on following the rules and fulfilling one’s predetermined role, with priorities such as respect for authority, religious faith, national pride, obedience, work ethic, large families with strong family ties, and a strict definition of good and evil. Traditional values are generally on the decline as economic development has stimulated a shift to modern and then postmodern and integral values.
• Modern (@40%): The focus is on achievement, growth, and progress, with priorities such as high trust in science and technology as the engines of progress, faith in the state (bureaucratization), rejection of out-groups, an appreciation of hard work and money, and a determination to improve one’s social and economic status. Rising levels of economic development that accompany modern values enable greater consumption and participation in consumer lifestyles. Modern values are slowing in affluent nations but rising in the emerging markets.
• Postmodern (@25-30%): The focus is on the search for meaning in one’s life, with priorities such as self-expression, including an emphasis on individual responsibility as well as choice, imagination, tolerance, life balance and satisfaction, environmentalism, wellness, and leisure. This shift in priorities is enabled by higher degrees of economic security. This type emerged in the late 1960s/early 1970s and has been slowly growing since then to become an influential group shaping preferences in the affluent nations.
• Integral (@2-5%): This leading edge of values change is characterized by a practical and functional approach to drawing upon values that best fit the particular context. The first three value types derive from the World Values Survey, but this one is derived from Integral Theory and Spiral Dynamics. Integral values are increasing but start from a much smaller base.

The key for After Capitalism is strengthening the shift to postmodern and especially integral values as they align best with the changes needed. The integral shift is key as it is the first values type that does not believe its way is the right way – it brings a much-needed ability to be flexible, practical, and functional. It should also be noted that there are healthy expressions of each values type and we need all those types working together to build the  After Capitalism world. — Andy Hines