Collapse of common values

Irrelevant social values
Lack of common ethic
Retreat from universal moral standards
Proliferation of value systems
Ethical decline
Rejection of accepted values

Nature

The lack of a common ethical system means the behaviour is dependent on the individual's perception of what is appropriate or inappropriate and on the structural sanctions society can effectively apply. This tends to force the legal system to assume the role of guarding the morality of the social system. Immorality is equated with illegality. Those who choose a moral life are relieved of the burden of freedom of choice by following the letter of the law. Those choosing an immoral life are left with avoiding being caught.

Incidence

In Hinduism and Buddhism, there is a distinct understanding of moral decline as a process of forgetting one's true identity and purpose as a result of distraction by the material world.

Claim

The commonly held value systems of society are collapsing, not only globally but also within the fabric of individual societies; and there is a deeply felt longing to recreate a sense of ethical human relations. The primary blocks to the creation of a new context for ethical decision-making are not to be found within the established religious institutions, the very groups which generally create and sustain meaningful value systems for local people. This is due to persistent individuals and organizations of established religion that are attempting either to make old schemes relevant or to create a new set of rigid, lasting values. At the same time, the current reduction of values to personal likes and dislikes is fostering an equally unhelpful personal hedonism.

A change in attitudes and in human structures frequently calls accepted values into question, especially among young people, who have grown impatient on more than one occasion, and indeed become rebels in their distress. Aware of their own influence in the life of society, they want a part in it sooner. This frequently causes parents and educators to experience greater difficulties day by day in discharging their tasks. The institutions, laws and modes of thinking and feeling as handed down from previous generations do not always seem to be well adapted to the contemporary state of affairs; hence arises an upheaval in the manner and even the norms of behaviour. (Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, 1965).