| Parsons' perspective is a significant trend in contemporary social theory which strongly emphasizes social action and value orientation. This trend grew out of cultural anthropology, ethnology, and sociology. The tendency is to treat individuals and to assert cultural patterns.;The analysis of value orientations alone would indicate whether value-orientations measure a large sample of cultures or a sub-sample; it is insufficient for cross-cultural comparison of cultural patterns as David Aberle (1961) argued. The cultural systems analysis should focus on systematic characteristics. These factors include: culture, technology, environment, economic structure, political systems, and religious institutions.;The study of values and value orientation has been dominant for several decades at Harvard University and throughout various social science disciplines. The Harvard Value Project under the advisory committee of John O'Brew, Clyde Kluckhohn and Talcott Parsons in Harvard University is a source of more than eighty publications. One of these studies is VARIATION IN VALUE ORIENTATIONS by Florence Kluckhohn and Fred Strodtbeck (1961). This study re-examines the dataset of Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck by two quantitative methods; one descriptive multidimensional scaling analysis model and the other inferential procedure of quadratic assignment.;For the purpose of this study, the Q-mode analysis is reported. The multidimensional scaling analysis and the quadratic assignment procedure are based on five cultures in the Southwest of the United States (the Rimrock area) which are examined for the variations within culture and between cultures. The results show differences between two Indian cultures, the Zuni and the Navajo, in comparison to three other cultures: Mormon, Spanish-American, and Texan. This study found there are also differences between male and female and cross-culturally.;This study reveals that future comparative analysis of value orientations and cultural patterns need to be examined over time since systematic cultural systems are dynamic. Further research should examine cultural systems from both synchronic and diachronic approaches. |
