Adolescents’ assessments on the importance of values for society: relationship with economic class and parents’ schooling

• Autor(a) principal: Wachelke, João
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.14195/1647-8606_61-2_3
• topic: values; adolescents; social classes; schooling; valores; adolescentes; classes sociais; escolaridade

The study compares the perception of Brazilian adolescents from different social positions (combinations of parents’ income and education) regarding the goals that they prioritize for an idealized society. The theoretical background of societal values is employed, as they are structured knowledge about ideologies originated from group struggles for power. It is understood that the main influences for adolescents’ values are experiences lived with their families, friends and teachers. Participants were 736 secondary school students from the city of Uberlandia, Minas Gerais State, who completed an adapted version of the Psychosocial Values Questionnaire (QVP24) and information on parents’ income and schooling. The responses linked to values were coded into importance categories and treated with descriptive statistics and correspondence analysis. Results indicate higher proportions of high importance for post-materialist values. The main contrasts involved religious values, associated with lesser social position, and hedonist values, linked to students from privileged positions, as if they were a condition to experience them. The interpretation of results patterns articulates shared social references and the seeking for the justification of the own group in the projection of an ideal society, setting up some disputes.