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Liberation or Poverty? An Indirect Assessment of the Impact of Potential Future Events on Society
Author(s) -
Salancik J. R
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1975.tb01306.x
Subject(s) - poverty , event (particle physics) , value (mathematics) , psychology , social psychology , economics , statistics , economic growth , mathematics , physics , quantum mechanics
A methodology is proposed and tested which suggests that one can evaluate the potential impact of future decisions or events on various societal groupings (poor vs. rich; black vs. white) by correlating the values promoted by the event or decision with the values desired by the societal groupings. It is assumed that the correlation represents the potential value satisfaction of the event for the societal grouping. Nine judges were asked to rate the contributions of two events to 18 social values. The values of six societal income groupings from “Under $4,000” to “Over $15,000” (Rokeach & Parker, 1970) were correlated with the values judged to be promoted by the two events. One event suggested that U.S. monies be shifted from military spending to urban aid; as expected, the values promoted by this event were more highly correlated with those of lower income groups than with those of higher income groups. The second event suggested that women have equal opportunities in professional and managerial jobs; as expected, the values of higher income groups would be served more by this event than would the values of lower income groups. This study substantiates that the assessment methodology proposed is feasible, meaningful, and that raters make consensual and reliable judgments that discriminate the events as predicted. It was also found that the value‐satisfaction index is correspondent with the public opinions of societal groupings toward events similar to those used in this study.