THE NEW MORALITY
A PROFILE OF AMERICAN YOUTH IN THE SEVENTIES
( New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978)

by Daniel Yankelovich

Based on 3522 one- to two-hour personal interviews conducted in 1973, this study of the views and attitudes of American youth is unprecedented in its breadth. Two independent samples make up this cross section, one of college youth, the other of noncollege youth -- high school students, blue collar workers, housewives, minority groups, high school dropouts, Vietnam veterans, and other heterogeneous groups which constitute the country's population aged 16 to 25. In addition, the study incorporates and compares findings from earlier studies made by the Yankelovich organization in the late sixties and early seventies. As a result, significant trends have been traced through an era crowded with events that deeply affected the lives of young people -- a period that stretches from the peak of U.S. involvement in Vietnam to the disappearance of the war as an issue among young people. It is a period in which sweeping changes have taken place in sexual mores and work-related values; the women's liberation movement has made a profound impression on the consciousness of young people; the credibility of basic institutions has been shaken; traditional beliefs have been challenged. With clarity and insight, this book fully explores these developments, some of which are universal in scope while others affect only small segments of the samples. Here is an opportunity to assess the impact of the enormous social change of the last few years on the most change-sensitive group in our population -- America's young people.