Welcome to the
back issue library of Context Institutes award-winning journal IN CONTEXT
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·
Need-Driven |
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|
o
Survivor
lifestyle |
... |
4 % |
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o
Sustainer
lifestyle |
... |
7 % |
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·
Outer-Directed |
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|
|||||
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o
Belonger
lifestyle |
... |
39 % |
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o
Emulator
lifestyle |
... |
8 % |
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o
Achiever
lifestyle |
... |
20 % |
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·
Inner-Directed |
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|
|||||
|
o
I-Am-Me
lifestyle |
... |
3 % |
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o
Experiential
lifestyle |
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6 % |
||||
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o
Societally
Conscious lifestyle |
|
11 % |
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·
Combined
Outer- and Inner-Directed
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|
|||||
|
o
Integrated
lifestyle |
... |
2 % |
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|
100 % |
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It should be understood from the
start that these lifestyle categories are not fixed and immutable. Many
people grow from one level to another as children, as adolescents, and as adults.
Some very few may start at the bottom and reach the top within a lifetime,
but far more common is movement of a level or two.
The VALS typology is hierarchical.
The prime development thrust is from Need-Driven through Outer- Directed and
Inner-Directed phases to a joining of Outer- and Inner-Direction. These major
transitions are seen as crucial way-posts in the movement of an individual
(or a society) from immaturity to full maturity. Three of the four major
developmental categories are subdivided into lifestyle phases representing
stages of advancement within the main category.
By "maturity," we
specifically mean psychological maturity. Very generally, psychological
maturation is marked by a progression from partial toward full realization of
one's potential. It involves a steady widening of perspectives and concerns
and a steady deepening of the inner reference points consulted in making
important decisions. Thus, the role of habit and "stock answers"
abates as a person matures, and the person becomes increasingly more complex
and self-expressive in a values sense.
This hierarchy should be thought
of as a nested model, with each stage "burying," as it were,
previous stages. This means that an individual's totality - like the layers
of an onion - consists of inner "spheres" of values relating to
stages of development that often date back to childhood or adolescence.
Hence, the more developed a person is, the more complex his or her value
structure and the more diverse the range of value-based reactions. This is
why highly developed people often identify with many - even all - of the VALS
levels: They are all of them!
In the paragraphs that follow, we
have tried to describe the psychological essence of each segment of the
typology and, in so doing, to provide a feeling for the widening concerns and
multiplying values of people as they move through the typology.
THE NEED-DRIVENS
The Need-Drivens are people so limited in resources (especially
financial resources) that their lives are driven more by need than by choice.
Much evidence shows that they are the furthest removed from the cultural
mainstream, are the least aware of the events of our times, and are most
inclined to be depressed and withdrawn. Values of the Need-Driven center
around survival, safety, and security. Such people tend to be distrustful,
dependent, unplanning. Many live unhappy lives
focused on the immediate specifics of today, with little sensitivity to the
wants of others and little vision of what could be. We divide the Need-Driven
category into two lifestyles: Survivor and Sustainer.
Survivors (4% of the population aged 18 and over in
1981) are the most disadvantaged in American society by reason of their
extreme poverty, low education, old age, and limited access to the channels
of upward mobility. They are people oriented to tradition but marked by
despair and unhappiness. Many, now infirm, once lived lifestyles associated
with higher levels of the VALS hierarchy. Other generation-after-generation
Survivors are ensnared in the so-called "culture of poverty."
Sustainers (7% of population) are a group struggling
at the edge of poverty. They are better off and younger than Survivors, and
many have not given up hope. Their values are very different from those of
Survivors in that Sustainers have advanced from the depression and
hopelessness typical of Survivors to express anger at the system they see as
repressing them, and they have developed a street-wise determination to get
ahead. Many operate in the underground economy.
THE OUTER-DIRECTEDS
This large
and diverse category is named to reflect the central characteristic of the
people within it: The Outer-Directeds conduct their
lives in response to signals - real or fancied - from others. "Out
there" is what is most important. Consumption, activities, attitudes -
all are guided by what the outer-directed individual
thinks others will think. Psychologically, Outer-Direction is a major step
forward from the Need-Driven state in that the perspective on life has
broadened to include other people, a host of institutions, shared goals, and
an array of personal values and options far more complex and diverse than
those available to the Need-Driven. In general, the Outer-Directeds
are the happiest of Americans, being well attuned to the cultural mainstream
- indeed, creating much of it. The VALS typology defines three principal
types of outer-directed people: Belongers,
Emulators, and Achievers.
Belongers (39% of population) constitute the large, solid, comfortable,
middle-class group of Americans who are the main stabilizers of society and
the preservers and defenders of the moral status quo. Belongers
tend to be conservative, conventional, nostalgic, sentimental, puritanical,
conforming. The key drive is to fit in - to belong - and not to stand out.
Their world is well posted and well lit, and the road is straight and narrow.
Family, church, and tradition loom large. Belongers
are people who know what is right, and they adhere to the rules. They are not
much interested in sophistication or intellectual affairs. All the evidence
suggests that Belongers lead contented, happy lives
and are relatively little vexed by the stresses and mercurial events that
swirl around them.
In terms of psychological
maturity, Belongers are ahead of the Need-Drivens in having a much wider range of associations
(both personal and institutional), a longer term focus for planning their
lives, and a less opportunistic pattern of behavior.
These are people well integrated with their surroundings.
Emulators (8% of population) live in a wholly
different world from that of Belongers. Emulators
are trying to burst into the upper levels of the system - to make it big. The
object of their emulation is the Achiever lifestyle. They are ambitious,
upwardly mobile, status-conscious, macho, competitive.
Many see themselves as coming from the other side of the tracks and hence are
intensely distrustful, are angry with the way things are, and have little
faith that "the system" will give them a fair shake. Emulators tend
not to be open in their feelings for fear of alienating those in authority,
on whom they depend to get ahead. The Emulator group contains a higher
fraction of minorities (24%) than any VALS group
other than the Need- Drivens.
Psychologically, Emulators are a
step ahead of Belongers in that they ask more of
themselves and the system and have assumed greater personal responsibility
for getting ahead instead of drifting with events in the style of many Belongers. On the other hand, Emulators seem often to
have unrealistic goals. In truth, many are not on the track to make them
Achievers, but they appear not to realize this.
Achievers (20% of population) include the leaders in
business, the professions, and government. Competent, self-reliant,
efficient, Achievers tend to be materialistic, hard-working, oriented to fame
and success, and comfort loving. These are the affluent people who have
created the economic system in response to the American dream. As such, they
are the defenders of the economic status quo. Achievers are among the best
adjusted of Americans, being well satisfied with their place in the system.
Only 5% of Achievers come from minority backgrounds.
Achievers are psychologically more
advanced than Emulators in having a wider spectrum of values, in being more
open and trusting, and in clearly having brought their ambitions into better
alignment with reality. Achievers are supporters of technology and are open
to progress, but they resist radical change. After all, they are on top and
too radical a change might shake them off!
THE INNER-DIRECTEDS
People we
call the Inner-Directeds contrast with the
Outer-Directed in that they conduct their lives primarily in accord with
inner values - the needs and desires private to the individual - rather than
in accord with values oriented to externals. What is most important to such
people is what is "in here" rather than what is "out
there." Concern with inner growth thus is a cardinal characteristic.
Inner-directed people tend to be self-expressive, individualistic,
person-centered, impassioned, diverse, complex.
It is important to recognize that,
in American society today, one can hardly be profoundly Inner-Directed
without having internalized Outer-Directedness through extensive and deep
exposure as a child, adolescent, or adult. One implication is that inner-
directed people tend not to come from need-driven or inner-directed families.
Some measure of satiation with the pleasures of external things seems to be
required before a person can believe in or enjoy the less visible,
incorporeal pleasures of Inner-Direction. This means not that the pleasures
of the outer world disappear (for the VALS typology is a nested model), but
that inner needs become more imperative than outer needs. From the
psychological standpoint, then, Inner-Direction in today's Western culture
represents an advance over Outer-Direction in that it adds new values to old,
thus increasing the range of potential responses and the number of channels
available for self-expression. For children raised in strongly inner-directed
families, however, the psychological advance would involve the shift from
Inner-Direction to Outer-Direction. This would be true, for example, of
people raised according to the tenets of the great inner-directed Eastern
cultures.
VALS has identified three stages
of Inner-Directedness: I-Am-Me. Experiential, and Societally
Conscious.
I-Am-Me (3% of population) is a short lived stage
of transition from Outer- to Inner-Direction. Values from both stages are
much in evidence. Typically, the I-Am-Me person is young and fiercely
individualistic to the point of being narcissistic and exhibitionistic.
People at this stage are full of confusions and emotions they do not
understand; hence, they often define themselves better by their actions than
by their statements. I-Am-Mes tend to be dramatic
and impulsive. Like cats, they have whims of iron. Much of their
Inner-Direction shows up in great inventiveness, a willingness to try
anything once, and an often secret inner exploration that will later
crystallize into lifelong pursuits.
As the I-Am-Mes
mature psychologically, they become the Experientials
(6% of population). At this stage of Inner-Direction, the focus has
widened from the intense egocentrism of the I-Am-Me to include other people
and many social and human issues. Experientials are
people who most want direct experience and vigorous involvement. Life is a
light show at one moment and an intense, often mystic, inner experience the
next. They are attracted to the exotic (such as Oriental religions), to the
strange (such as parapsychology), and to the natural (such as
"organic" gardening and home baking). The most inner-directed of
any VALS group, these people also are probably the
most artistic and the most passionately involved with others. Although
intense, this is a thoroughly enjoyable stage of life, full of vigorous
activity (although less so than at the I- Am-Me stage), and marked by a
growing concern with intellectual and spiritual matters.
The Societally
Conscious (11% of
population) have extended their Inner-Direction beyond the self and others to
the society as a whole - in fact, sometimes to the globe or even,
philosophically, to the cosmos. A profound sense of societal responsibility
leads these people to support such causes as conservation, environmentalism,
and consumerism. They tend to be activistic,
impassioned, and knowledgeable about the world around them. Many are
attracted to simple living and the natural; some have taken up lives of
voluntary simplicity. Many do volunteer work. The Societally
Conscious seek to live frugal lives that conserve,
protect, and heal. Inner growth remains a crucial part of life. Consequently,
many Societally Conscious people assume a high
degree of self-reliance, which extends to holistic health and a sense that
they are in touch with inner forces that guide them.
COMBINED OUTER- AND
INNER-DIRECTEDS: THE INTEGRATEDS
At the
pinnacle of the VALS typology is a small group we call the Integrateds (2% of population). These rare people have
put it all together. They meld the power of Outer-Direction with the
sensitivity of Inner-Direction. They are fully mature in a psychological
sense - able to see many sides of an issue, able to lead if necessary, and willing to take a secondary role if that is
appropriate. They usually possess a deep sense of the fittingness of things.
They tend to be self-assured, self-actualizing, self-expressive, keenly aware
of issues and sentiments, and often possessed of a world perspective. These highly
unusual people are the Lincolns and Jeffersons and Einsteins and Schweitzers and Huxleys and Hammarskjolds of
society.
LIFESTYLE TRENDS IN
HARD TIMES
Recent
history has raised the question: What happens to the lifestyle groups in hard
times? This subject is addressed in depth in a VALS report entitled Hard
Times by Marie Spengler and Peter Teige. The report
was published in November 1980. The conclusions of the report have proved
prescient, as shown by lifestyle trends revealed in VALS surveys conducted in
April 1980 and October 1981.
Four main things happen in hard
times:
·
First,
the transitional lifestyle stages (especially Emulator and I-Am-Me) tend to
be much less prominent. Apparently, in hard times people will not tolerate
show-off, flibbertigibbet lifestyles.
·
Second,
the number of people adopting the deep and solid traditional lifestyle of the
Belonger tends to increase. We have evidence of
recent growth in the number of Belongers, reversing
a long-term downtrend. When the going gets rough, the safety, familiarity,
and supportiveness of the Belonger way appear to be
profoundly appealing.
·
Third,
the ranks of the Societally Conscious expand. We
impute this to the fact that this lifestyle is already attuned to frugal living.
It has the further appeal of supporting many of the issues brought into
prominence in periods of economic uncertainty.
·
Fourth,
although an increase in the number of people living in poverty might be
expected, rather to our surprise we have not found a major change in the
number of Need-Drivens. Apparently, times are still
not bad enough to have appreciably increased the number of Americans who fit
the Survivor and Sustainer categories, although the
number of Sustainers reporting being unemployed has skyrocketed. We suspect
that the natural resilience of people has something to do with this. Over a
period of a year or two, hope for better times
remains. If hard times persist, the resilience may vanish and many who now
see themselves as Belongers (plus other groups)
would begin to take on the psychic attributes of the Need-Drivens.
A LOOK AHEAD:
WHITHER THE KIDS OF THE INNER-DIRECTEDS?
One of the
most interesting and potentially significant questions raised by the VALS
typology regards the lifestyles that the children of Experiential and Societally Conscious parents will adopt. This discussion
is necessarily speculative because these two VALS types are still so young
(median age of Experientials is 26 and that of the Societally Conscious is 38) that we are only beginning to
see how their children react on reaching age 18.
We think that the children of the
Inner-Directeds will tend to become a new, subtle,
and effective kind of Achiever. This "new convert" Achiever group,
which will begin to develop in the coming decade, will be fleeing the Inner-
Direction of their parents just as current l-Am-Mes
are abandoning outer-directed family values. The notion is that if you were
raised without dolls, you'll collect them as an adult; if you have not
visited the pasture on the other side of the road, you must journey there.
We think this potential addition
to the VALS typology could be of crucial importance for several reasons.
First, this new kind of Achiever will, we believe, bring an introspective
entrepreneurial spirit to the driving outer-directed segments of society. We
expect this will have a profoundly rejuvenating effect on the American system
because the person who represents a blending of Inner-Direction and
Outer-Direction may be particularly effective in getting things done.
This new class of Achievers will
surely be creative and different, just as the I-Am-Mes
of the 1960's and 1970's were. The new Achievers will insist on seeing things
and doing things in their own way - and they are not likely to be slavishly
imitative of any model.
Further, we speculate that they
will prove to be the nation's most important source of leadership by the year
2000, for by then some will have matured into the Integrated stage. These
will be people long out of Inner-Direction and recently out of
Outer-Direction. This history, we surmise, will equip them to be particularly
effective leaders, because they will be able to combine the executive
strength of the Outer-Direction with the human insight of Inner-Direction.
With luck, they will be able to devise higher order solutions to national
problems that combine the best in both ways of life.
All contents copyright (c)1983, 1996 by Context Institute
Last Updated 29 June 2000.
URL: http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC03/SRIVALS.htm