A DISCLOSURE APPROACH TO VALUE ANALYSIS IN SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION: RATIONALE AND COMPONENTS.

This paper presents a rationale for an approach to value study which takes account of the subjective nature and symbolic activities of human beings. Growing out of this rationale, a model for value study is developed through a consideration of the distinctions which exist between value and non-value concepts; the nature of narrative (explanation) language; and the nature of man as a mythologizer and future gazer. Central to the approach developed here is the need to discriminate between disclosure and non-disclosure concepts. Value concepts are disclosure in nature, and, as such, cannot be examined in the same way one would study non-value concepts. Also, the nature of language with such attributes as metaphoric thought, narrative style and mythic structures is considered as an integral part of this disclosure approach. This paper calls for a conscious development of a more holistic approach to value study. While it does not posit a systematic repression or rejction of objectivism or materialism, it does call attention to the need for a more careful balance between materialistic and mentalistic models in understanding human values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]