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Weekly Bulletin issue no. 11, 1998 <sti>Stikktittel

"Samfunnspeilet" 1/98:

Norwegians have become more liberal


Norwegian have become more liberal in terms of personal morals, Statistics Norway's surveys on values from 1982, 1990 and 1996 show.
In the surveys, people were asked to take a standpoint on whether various actions could be justified or not. Respondents ranked their answers using a 10-point scale in which 1 means "never" and 10 means "always".

Since 1982, personal morals have become more liberal with respect to homosexuality, prostitution, abortion, divorce and euthanasia. On the other hand, the attitudes people have towards suicide have remained stable.

Among the points mentioned, divorce was the most justifiable in 1996, followed by homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia and prostitution. Suicide was the least justifiable.

Social morals have stayed about the same, although people think it is less acceptable to cheat on taxes if you have an opportunity to do so, and slightly more acceptable to ride buses and trains without buying a ticket. Five actions are included under social morals. In addition to the aforementioned, the others are: demanding public benefits you are not entitled to, buying something you know is stolen and accepting bribes at work. Attitudes to the latter three have changed little since 1982.

Source
Samfunnsspeilet 1/98.
For more information, contact: Hanne-Marit Teigum, tel. +47 21 09 46 62, e-mail: hmt@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 11, 1998