Sociologists will be the first to admit that the discipline which they so whole-heartedly embrace, is among the most difficult of sciences, and this not so much in their study of the static aspects of society but in that of its dynamic and fluid features. For besides studying society in general and the various factors that impinge on it, sociologists compare and contrast the shifting values and the corresponding behaviour of specific groups of people from different societies. And, in the late modern societies of our times such behaviour is changing so constantly and so rapidly that it becomes ever increasingly hard to keep track any more of the values of society. All this in contrast to pre-modern and less developed societies that are still governed by authoritarian religious or political regimes, where obsolete standards and the justification of inhuman action like corporal punishment by flogging, mutilation or decapitation for morally errant behaviour, are still in place.
The local scene
All this by way of introduction to a theme, the study of society in general, and to what concerns us from very close range, the study of Maltese society, in particular. For at times one is led to believe that Maltese society is caught up in a quandary and a dichotomy worse than that of any other theocratic society. Analogously to Muslim countries ruled by Shari’a and to theocratic Israel, here in Malta we have had the ‘Catholic’ ethic imposed on us for centuries. And if we have to be honest, just when we had thought of ourselves as true and good Christians we had forgotten that during the centuries of the Inquisition, in these islands we were required to be ‘good’ and, at least outwardly, observant Catholics - under pain of excommunication, torture and even death. Those days, mercifully are gone. Gone are also the days when most social studies were conducted by ‘sociologists’ whose vested interests whether towards Church or State coloured their conclusions - which were predictably biased more than objectively scientific. Those days are mercifully gone; but others, some say worse times, are upon us: for after centuries of stagnation we are racing to be ‘modern’ and the yardstick of our progress is ‘how close we are to Europe’!
So it behoves us to have as true and objective picture of the situation as possible. One way to ascertain where our society stands in relation to other European countries is by the study of representative samples from the population at different points in time, making use of a thorough and exhaustive questionnaire as set out in the successive waves of European Values Study. Participation in this project is one of the most scientific ways to gauge Malta’s ‘Europe-minded’ process. Hence the reason why various governments periodically ever since 1981, have commissioned comparative international surveys, the European Values Study, in particular. Our sociologists have been gauging as to how far we Maltese have been coming up to par as far as European expectations and standards are concerned. Successive EVS surveys carried out locally in 1984, 1991, 1995 and 1999 have helped sociologists form a picture of the Malta scene. And this is where scholarly studies like that of professor Anthony M. Abela come in: to interpret such surveys and offer in figures, tables and narrative form the analyses, interpretations and conclusions.
What is it all about?
The latest work of Anthony M. Abela ‘Values of Women and Men in the Maltese Islands – a comparative European perspective’ is of inestimable value in more ways than one. First of all, it was published by the Commission for the Advancement of Women within the Ministry for Social Policy and hence for a change the bias – evidenced even in the title – is in favour of women. However, such a study also helps us to get a more accurate picture of the state of things in Malta vis-à-vis Europe, for it compares the local findings with those of ten other European nations viz. Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Russia and Spain. To those whose first and most natural reaction would be to ask what Malta is doing comparing itself with such ‘big league’ nations the answer is twofold: a) the local survey took into consideration both the factor of the comparative density of the population and b) that the representative sample of those interviewed was as disparate a cross-section of our society as possible.
The book systematically examines six themes in as many chapters: Gendering values; Value priorities; Gendering family values; Women and men at work; Gendered religion; and Politics and society. Each chapter is briefly explained by an analysis of the data, which in turn are presented in tabulated and graphic form. These chapters and analyses occupy the major part of the book. There follows (pp. 291 – 293) a list of relevant works either quoted in this study or themselves used as references. Noteworthy is the fact that Anthony M. Abela has been involved in such studies ever since his sociological analysis of the first EVS survey which was published in 1991 as Transmitting Values European Malta: A study in the Contemporary Values of Modern Society, with many other studies following regularly, practically annually. At the end of the book (pp. 294 –326), we find the reproduction of the questionnaire on which the survey was based – both in Maltese and English.
Those who have been involved in the analysis of questionnaires and the scientific interpretation of large data sets over time will tell you that this has been a massive effort both in the meticulous attention to detail and in the faithful interpretation of contents. And the undertaking of such a project could only take place in the leisurely environment of a sabbatical away from the pressures of lectures and seminars and student-theses supervision. Even then it takes a certain amount of dedication to come out with masterpiece like this. It is to be hoped that those in authority and especially those who have an influence on public opinion will acknowledge the findings from this study whether in the religious or civic fields. For this study is an eye-opener on the course Maltese society has been taking and the direction in which it is moving.
Maltese society is moving away from the iron-fisted grip that both Church and politics had in the past. We are no longer a closed, subservient, with a bootlicking colonial mentality as dictated to by the powers-that-be whether religious, political or civic. The younger generation is more emancipated and heading towards further emancipation.
Among some of the more relevant findings of this study is the fact that though society in general tends to be less ‘churchy’, individuals do not thereby feel less spiritual. The trends in the past decade have shown an ever greater and widening gap between what people think about persons in ‘authority’. As to the hold of the Church on the populace in general: there has been an increasing trend towards greater emancipation from ritual without abandonment of the ‘spiritual’; there is a greater sense of personal autonomy in maters of family and individual morality; while on political and social issues there are signs of more independent thinking.
More liberal thinking is also encroaching on that old bastion of conservatism. Women in Malta who, by-passing the strident and uselessly aggressive “women’s lib” stage have nonetheless made tremendous strides towards emancipation – and this in a male - politically and religiously - dominated society such as ours. Women’s increasing participation in the job market, their ability to juggle career, work and home duties, their ever-increasing involvement in politics are all encouraging signs that they are coming out of the intellectual ‘purdah’ that their male counterparts in these islands had committed them to in ages past. Although we are far from accepting still less abetting such taken-for-granted values as in the rest of Europe, on matters of divorce, same-sex-marriages, euthanasia and family morality, over the years, Maltese respondents have become slightly more permissive. Still, professor Abela goes on to observe: “… there has been an increase in the non-justification of life and death issues, abortion and suicide in particular. As can be expected, in Europe generally and in Malta in particular, women, lower educated and younger people are less permissive than their counterparts.” (p.223). All of which forces lead us to conclude that as this segment of society becomes more educated and older, we must expect a further shift in values – when it will be time perhaps for another survey with due scientific interpretations. Hopefully it will also be presented in as attractive layout as this- for it must be said that Union Press have made a fantastic job out of it.
Joseph S Abela
The Malta Independent Tuesday 8 March 2001. p 6.