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The aim of this paper is to explore the amusement park industry and its evolution during the 1990s. The primary causes of change in this industry are determined and their impact on the companies operating in this business is investigated. The assumption to be ascertained is how currently operating amusement park firms have been able to effectively respond to the threats and opportunities created by the environmental changes occurring in the 1990s. The analysis is framed into three main sections: first, it offers an overview of the amusement industry; second, it examines the environmental trends affecting it; and third, it attempts to delineate the future development of the amusement business.

Investigates higher stages of human development in some of the world’s most accomplished performers. Indicates that far more frequent experiences of a silent, expanded, restfully alert and non‐attached state of heightened awareness characterize those individuals who display outstanding skill and accomplishment in their action. Interprets these findings in the light of the Vedic Psychology of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which describes higher states of consciousness in which peak performances are all‐time phenomena rather than extraordinary happenings. There is widespread agreement that only very few individuals reach the highest stages of human development; as a consequence, there is a considerable latent human potential in organizations and society.

Every book has its unique history. Our own interest in intergenerational ambivalence developed in discussions during Karl Pillemer’s sabbatical in 1996 at the University of Konstanz Research Center on Society and the Family. Despite using different methods, samples, and research frameworks, both of us had come up with findings about intergenerational relations that could not be interpreted easily within existing theoretical frameworks. Kurt Lüscher’s study of family reorganization after older parents’ divorce pointed toward complex tensions between interpersonal closeness and distance, and between a desire to preserve traditional family forms and to strike out in new directions (Lüscher & Pajung-Bilger, 1998). Similarly, Lüscher’s work on family rhetoric (Lüscher, 2000) and on contemporary families (Lüscher, 1998) suggested the limitations of existing frameworks in these areas. Karl Pillemer’s research on elder mistreatment had revealed the paradoxical circumstance that extreme conflict and a high degree of solidarity coexist in abusive families (Pillemer & Suitor, 1992; Pillemer & Wolf, 1998; Wolf & Pillemer, 1997) and his studies of parent-child relationships had pointed to the prevalence of interpersonal conflict and unmet expectations (Pillemer & Suitor, 1998; Suitor & Pillemer, 1988, 1996) as well as their negative impact on parental well-being (Pillemer & Suitor, 1991).

Building on the “Great Divide” thesis (Goody, 1977; Ong, 1982), this study analyzes the conceptual relationships between the two main communication modes (orality/literacy) and cultural values.

The study adopts a purely conceptual approach to connect orality and literacy with nine cultural dimensions adopted from Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s (1961), Hall’s (1976) and Inglehart’s (1997) frameworks.

The analyses suggest that orality is associated with values such as high-context communication, poly-chronic time, public space proxemics, collectivism, hierarchical social structure, subjugation, past orientation, religiousness/traditionalism and survival cultural dimensions. Literacy is associated with opposing values, including low-context communication, mono-chronic time, private space proxemics, individualism, egalitarian social structure, dominance, future orientation, secularity/rationality, and self-expression cultural dimensions. The paper relies on modernization theory to explain the socio-economic implications and organizes the nine pairs of cultural dimensions according to the great divide between orality and literacy.

Theoretically, this study conceptualizes orality and literacy, analyzes their salient differences and examines their relationships with cultural values. While many studies have tried to explain the differences in cultural values from an economic perspective, this study offers an alternative view of cultural values’ variations across the world.