Value (ethics)

About: Value (ethics) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 21347 publications have been published within this topic receiving 461372 citations.

Ethical practice in nursing: working the in-betweens.

Abstract: Background. While contemporary ethical theory is of tremendous value to nursing, the extent to which such theory has been informed by the concerns and practices of nurses has been limited. Purpose. With a view to complementing extant ethical theory, a study was undertaken to explore, from the perspective of nurses, the meaning of ethics and the enactment of ethical practice in nursing. Design and methods. Located in the interpretive/constructivist paradigm, using an emergent design, this inquiry employed focus groups to collect the data. Eighty-seven nurses from a wide range of practice settings were interviewed in 19 focus groups of three to nine nurses each. Findings. The nurses described ethics in their practice as both a way of being and a process of enactment. They described drawing on a wide range of sources of moral knowledge in a dynamic process of developing awareness of themselves as moral agents. Enacting moral agency involved working in a shifting moral context, and working in-between their own values and those of the organizations in which they worked, in-between their own values and those of others, and in-between competing values and interests. Conclusions. Analysis of the experiences and concerns of the nurses offered new understanding of ethics in nursing and direction for the development of ethical theory pertinent to nursing practice.

Value stability and change during self-chosen life transitions: Self-selection versus socialization effects

Abstract: Three longitudinal studies examine a fundamental question regarding adjustment of personal values to self-chosen life transitions: Do values fit the new life setting already at its onset, implying value-based self-selection? Or do values change to better fit the appropriate and desirable values in the setting, implying value socialization? As people are likely to choose a life transition partly based on their values, their values may fit the new life situation already at its onset, leaving little need for value socialization. However, we propose that this may vary as a function of the extent of change the life transition entails, with greater change requiring more value socialization. To enable generalization, we used 3 longitudinal studies spanning 3 different life transitions and different extents of life changes: vocational training (of new police recruits), education (psychology vs. business students), and migration (from Poland to Britain). Although each life transition involved different key values and different populations, across all 3 studies we found value fit to the life situation already early in the transition. Value socialization became more evident the more aspects of life changed as part of the transition, that is, in the migration transition. The discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for research on values and personality change, as well as limitations and future directions for research.

The Sociology of Values

Abstract: The history of the concept of values is reviewed from its beginnings in the 19th century to the present Work on values rose to preeminence under Talcott Parsons and his associates during 1950-1965, Nevertheless, the theory they produced was flawed: It lacked sophisticated empirical support, imposed preordained categories on reality, and was formulated at an unresearchable level of abstraction Alternative theories of values fared only somewhat better More vibrant is the long tradition of (nonParsonian) empirical studies in various subject areas (eg achievement, religion) This body of work, however, is ad hoc in nature: The data produced are essentially noncomparable and do not advance the concerns of value theory The recent work of Kohn (on class and values) and Rokeach (on general value systems) has begun to remedy the situation It is suggested that value analysis of the future can only solve past ditficulties if (a) it develops grounded theory and research methods—ie, hypotheses and techniques t

Critical Remarks on Weber's Theory of Authority*

Abstract: Max Weber has often been criticized for advocating a wertfrei, ethically neutral approach in the social sciences and for thereby denying to man, in the words of Leo Strauss, “any science, empirical or rational, any knowledge, scientific or philosophic, of the true value system.” On the other hand, Carl Friedrich points out that Weber's “ideal-type analysis led him to introduce value judgments into his discussion of such issues as bureaucracy.” There is some justification for both these criticisms. Indeed, a characteristic of Weber's work is that it can be and has been subjected to opposite criticisms, not only in this respect but also in others. Historians object to his disregard for the specific historical conditions under which the social phenomena he analyzes have taken place, which sometimes leads him to combine historical events that occurred centuries apart into a conception of a social system. Sociologists, in contrast, accuse him of being preoccupied with interpreting unique historical constellations, such as Western capitalism, instead of studying recurrent social phenomena which make it possible to develop testable generalizations about social structures. His methodology is attacked as being neo-Kantian, but his concept of Verstehen is decried as implying an intuitionist method. While his theories are most frequently cited in contradistinction to those of Marx, they have also been described as basically similar to Marx's.