Henry J. Aaron, director of the Economic Studies program at Brookings, is the author of Serious and Unstable
Condition: Financing America's Health Care (1991) and coeditor of Setting Domestic Priorities: What Can Government
Do? (1992).
Mann, Thomas E. (Ed.) :
Thomas E. Mann is director of the Brookings Governmental Studies program, coeditor of Media Polls in American
Politics (1992), and coauthor of the Renewing Congress series.
Taylor, Timothy (Ed.) : Stanford University
Timothy Taylor is managing editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives at Stanford University.
Summary
What people believe--their values and preferences--determine how public policies work. But policy changes those
values by influencing habits and norms. Yet taking account of the effects on values in designing public policy
is hard to do. What role can or should a democratic government play in shaping values? And how do values shape
the effects of public policy?
This book presents six essays that seek answers to these questions. The contributors identify trends in America's
values, consequences of those trends, and public policy tools with which some of those values might be changed:
Daniel Yankelovich (The Yankelovich Group) describes how American values have shifted in the last half-century,
and offers some international comparisons. He believes that rising affluence, together with beliefs as to whether
that affluence will continue, are the driving force behind these changes in values.
Jane Mansbridge (Northwestern University) points out that societies are not built on self-interest alone, and
examines the process of building cooperation, consensus, and public spirit.
James Q. Wilson (UCLA) argues that the destructive habits which can lead to social pathologies, like crime
and drug use, are set early in life. He examines how public policy might intervene when children are young to promote
better values.
David Popenoe (Rutgers University) maintains that America has veered too far toward individualist values, resulting
in a decline of families and many attendant social ills.
Nathan Glazer (Harvard University) describes the history and present status of the dispute over multicultural
education. He believes in the possibility of a balance between the threat of a divisive curriculum and a healthy
diversity.
George Akerlof and Janet Yellen (University of California, Berkeley) examine the problem of gang criminality
as a three-way interaction--among the gang, the police, and the surrounding community.
In the past, social scientists have often sidestepped questions about values as undefinable, unquantifiable,
and somehow unscientific. The essays in this volume address these questions at last.
