| Summary: | 碩士 === 東吳大學 === 社會學系 === 94 === Major economic and political changes in Taiwan since the 1960s affected an important aspect of social change : social values. The author has engaged in a high school teaching profession, and experienced first-hand the implications that such social changes created on education. As society reaches a certain state of industrialization and commercialization, new thoughts and trends such as individualism, utilitarianism and materialism affects social development, and this has a profound impact on teenagers.
There have been, in recent years, studies concerning the factors influencing social change, though non has paid close attention to generational differences on values, which result in the lack of theoretical frameworks on studies regarding value differences between parents and high school students. This particular study utilizes international references, taking the senior students at Taipei Municipal Lishan Senior High School as a sample, from a perspective of their life course combined with Conflict Theory and Structural-Functionalism to quantitatively analyze this issue.
The generational value differences discussed in this study focuses on the comparison between high school students and their parents, with analysis on self-esteem, family values, social values and national values. It is hoped that the results presented herein will provide a basis for reference on future teenage counseling and education. Major findings are as follows:
I. Parents’ present and past values comparison
a. Self-esteem: Parents exhibit significant conservatism during high school and now show a higher degree of aspiration for a more diverse life and self-esteem .
b. Family values: For the parents’ interviews, family importance is proportional to age. Parents have a much more positive stance toward family than during their high school years.
c. Social values: Parents place their efforts primarily on family and professional matters more than voluntary social matters, showing less enthusiasm for public participation. They were more socially active during high school.
d. National values: Many parents experienced the time of struggle and death during national civil wars and seen tragedies met by the earlier generation, thus resulting in a higher devotion to national matters. As the years progressed, weariness wore off and political conflicts actually dissolved much of their original national values compared to high school times.
II. Comparison between the values of high school students and their parents’ current values during high school
a. Self-esteem: The students have a higher acceptance rate for pre-marriage sexual intercourse and a higher longing for a diverse lifestyle. In this respect, students demonstrate more individuality than their parents at the same age.
b. Family values: The parents shows a more positive attitude toward family, mostly caused by their experiences during Taiwan’s rapid social development from a agricultural society with lives focused on the family.
c. Social values: Present high school students have increased requirement for resources from society and have more positive social values compared with their parents.
d. National values: When the interviewed parents were in high school, it was during a time of national turmoil and political indoctrination causing highlighted patriotism, which gives them a more positive national value than current high school students.
III. Comparison between the values of high school students and their parents’ current values
a. Self-esteem: Parents are evidently more conservative compared with high school students, who have a longing for diversity, concern for the feelings of contemporaries and fear of rejection.
b. Family values: Many parents perceive maintaining traditional family values such as filial service, following parents’ wishes when in conflict and seeking help from the family during difficulties. The students’ attitudes differ significantly from this.
c. Social values: Though parents indicate a more active attitude to matters of
“commonwealth”, they are significantly more passive than high school students in other areas. For the students, there is a concept of the caring and applications of social resources, which the parents noticeably lack.
d. National values: High school students show even more pronounced resentment toward bureaucratic inefficiency and corruption, with less national identification than their parents and a generally negative attitude.
Key words：social change, values, different generations , life course
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