Three worlds of values: values change is not just about changing values

Huh? My postings have emphasized the newly emerging postmodern and integral values. These are surely changing the consumer landscape, but primarily in the affluent countries. Does this mean that values are not changing in other countries. My former colleagues at Coates & Jarratt and Social Technologies and I used a “three worlds” model that sorted countries into worlds according to how they ranked on four dimensions: economic status, educational achievement, human development, and technological capability. The World 1 affluent countries, where the leading edge values changes are taking place, comprise less than a billion of the word’s seven billion population. The World 3 poor countries, depending on where you draw the line, are between 1 and 2 billion, which means the bulk of the worlds population, 4-5 billion, is in World 2, often referred to as the emerging markets.

The sheer size of the emerging markets suggests our attention to values should start there. But, it is important to note that the affluent countries will be at the leading edge of values change. In the human development approach at the heart of ConsumerShift the affluent countries are the first to experience newer values, because their relatively high level of economic development and security enables the experimentation that poor nations cannot afford because they are trying to survive, and the emerging markets are not yet concerned with because they are busy trying to grow. So, the affluent nations set the pace for values changes.

As suggested in the title, however, there is massive values change going on in the emerging markets, the shift from traditional to modern values. The scale of this change is massive, given the numbers involved. In a sentence, it is the shift from traditional emphasis on “following the rules,” to modern emphasis on “achieve.” It unleashes a tremendous pent-up energy that is directed toward economic growth and the accompanying modern values changes ripple throughout the society. Lots of change, but from a development perspective, we’ve been here before. The affluent nations went through a similar transition at earlier points in their development.

So, keep in mind that values changes are fairly ubiquitous, and that we’re focusing on a small portion because they are the ones that are new to the future. Andy Hines