Values

Several definitions of values have been influential in the social sciences. For the anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn, a value is a conception of the desirable that influences the selection of available modes, means, and ends of action. Central to this definition is the notion of “a conception of the desirable.” A desire is a wish or a preference, while the term desirable goes beyond a wish or a want by bringing in considerations of moral content.

For the psychologist Milton Rokeach, a value is an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end state of existence is preferable to opposite or converse modes of conduct or end states of existence. Rokeach's definition includes several elements that can be used as a point of departure for discussing several dimensions of the value concept. Rokeach indicated that there are two types of values: (1) consummatory (end state of existence) and (2) instrumental (mode of conduct) values. Rokeach also differentiated between personal and social values. People have values that they want to emphasize in their own lives (self-centered) and also those that they would emphasize in their social environment (society centered). This differentiation can be expanded to different domains, and one can talk about, for example, family values, work values, bureaucratic values, and political values.

For Rokeach, a value is a basic and relatively stable element in a person's belief system. A value is a prescriptive belief wherein some means or end of action is judged to be desirable or undesirable. Values are sometimes contrasted with attitudes, which are often defined as a set of beliefs organized around a specific object or situation. A value is considered to be a basic (prescriptive) belief that often influences a specific attitude together with other beliefs. Beliefs, attitudes, and values can be conceived to lie on a center–periphery dimension where values are the most central, intensive, and enduring and beliefs are the most peripheral.

Building on Rokeach and others, Shalom Schwartz identifies six formal characteristics that are the defining features of basic human values: (1) Values are beliefs (2) about desirable end-states or behaviors (modes of conduct) that (3) transcend specific situations or actions, (4) guide selection or evaluation of behavior and events, and (5) are ordered by relative importance to form a value system. (6) The relative importance of values guides attitudes and behavior.

Other researchers such as Jan van Deth and Elinor Scarbrough consider the relationship between values and attitudes as a reciprocal one that, at the individual level, provides opportunities for the modification and adaptation of values. These scholars use the notion “value orientation” [Page 2692]for constellations of attitudes that can be patterned empirically and interpreted theoretically in a meaningful way. This implies that value orientations can be studied with data that include indicators of attitudes.

Culture can be considered as the rich complex of meanings, beliefs, symbols, norms, and values prevalent among people in a society. Cultural differences can be studied along many dimensions. Given that values are the central elements in individuals' belief systems, the values that are emphasized in a society are a very central feature of culture. A major conceptual advantage of an approach in which values are central is that values can be considered as important intermediate variables between several independent background variables and various variables that can be considered to be consequences of values.

...