Nation: CHANGING MORALITY: THE TWO AMERICAS A TIME-Louis Harris Poll

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These answers suggest that the widely bruited public antipathy to nonconformists has been exaggerated. Says Harris: "Analysis of this list leaves little doubt that immoral acts committed by Establishment figures are viewed as much worse, by and large, than anti-Establishment figures who have caused all the recent flurries of public indignation. The results strongly suggest that the central theme of the young in protest against hypocrisy and double standards has more going for it in terms of potential public support than might have previously been imagined."

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Americans still readily invoke the conventional catalogue of moral precepts: 93% rate the Golden Rule as very important, and a large majority say that they turn to it for guidance when confronted with a moral dilemma. The statement that "nothing is more important than family love and respect" draws the approval of 90%, and "hard work pays off" has the assent of 79%. Similarly, 77% say that they turn for moral guidance to the values their parents taught them, and 73% look to "the religious rules I was raised on."

Still, individualism has not lost its hold on the American psyche. In a moral crisis, most people say that they depend on their conscience to be their guide rather than on any external authority. Among whites, 45% believe that a man should depend on himself and not ask for favors; 53% of blacks agree. Yet 66% of the blacks questioned by Harris' interviewers contended that '"it helps to know people" in getting ahead, while only 33% of the whites thought so. Again, "If you don't look out for yourself, nobody else will" is a statement accepted by 75% of the Negroes but only by 47% of the whites. Increasingly, following one's own bent openly and unapologetically has become a criterion of moral conduct.

As Harris observes, one mark of alienation is to doubt the conventional values of established morality, and many in the poll considered certain acts justified that have been overwhelmingly considered immoral in the past, Of those surveyed, 30% believe that the use of physical violence is justified in certain circumstances; that figure is 38% among those under 30 and 35% among white-collar workers. Overall, 29% also feel that unjust laws may be ignored, a figure that rises to 39% among those under 30 and to 38% among professional people, Divorce is sanctioned by 72% (84% among professionals), telling lies in certain circumstances by 59%, suicide by 12%, and ignoring a victim's cry for help—presumably to avoid the dangers of involvement—by 22%. On the other hand, Americans continue to favor capital punishment, 48% to 38%; the figure is 58% among men but falls to 40% among women.