Although various dimensions of values have been advanced, this paper proposes a three-fold value typology, using individual, collective and universal value orientations. In post-war Japan, a profound change in values from the collective orientation to individual orientation has occurred. It is suggested that the causes of this change are: 1) democracy imported from Western countries; 2) the development of an affluent society as a result of economic growth; and 3) social changes, like urbanisation and the nuclearisation of the family. On the other hand, in the 1980s there was a growth in the awareness of the universal orientation, involving the relative priority that a person gives to general human happiness over the individual's own happiness if there is a competitive relation between the two. Although people who hold a universal orientation and behave accordingly are still in a minority, the universal orientation will become more widespread in future society and it is therefore important to pay particular attention to it.

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