Values - Meaning, Definitions and Functions | Sociology

Values are one of the fundamental elements of culture. Human behaviour is not governed only by biological needs or individual preferences. In every society, there are certain ideas and standards concerning what is considered good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or undesirable, important or unimportant. These shared ideas are referred to as social values.

Values provide the general guidelines for conduct. They indicate the broad goals and ideals which individuals and groups are expected to pursue and, in doing so, provide a basis for the development of more specific social norms. Thus, values have an important role in regulating behaviour and facilitating social control.

Values are therefore closely related to norms, but the two should not be treated as identical. A value expresses a general standard of desirability, whereas a norm specifies the particular behaviour expected in a given situation.

For example, honesty is a value. The expectation that a student should not cheat in an examination is a more specific norm arising from that value.

Meaning of Values

The term value refers generally to the worth, importance or desirability attached to something. In sociology, values refer to socially shared standards or conceptions regarding what is desirable, good, right, important or worthwhile.

Values provide individuals with broad guidelines for choosing between different goals and courses of action. They also provide standards by which behaviour can be evaluated.

A society may attach importance to values such as honesty, equality, freedom, justice, cooperation, achievement, respect for elders, social responsibility or individual dignity. These values influence the formation of norms and the functioning of social institutions.

Values are not simply personal likes and dislikes. An individual’s preference for a particular food or colour is ordinarily a matter of personal taste. A value becomes sociologically significant when it represents a socially meaningful standard or ideal shared, to some degree, by members of a group or society.

Values are therefore both cultural and normative. They form part of the cultural heritage of society and provide standards for judging behaviour.

Definitions of Values

Different sociologists have approached the concept of values from somewhat different perspectives.

• According to H. M. Johnson, “Values are general standards and may be regarded as higher order norms.” This definition is particularly useful for understanding the relationship between values and norms. Values are broader and more general than ordinary norms. They provide the underlying standards from which more specific norms may be derived.

For example, if respect for human life is accepted as a value, it can give rise to specific norms prohibiting murder and physical violence. The value is general, whereas the norms provide particular rules of conduct.

• Young and Mack regard values as largely unconscious assumptions concerning what is right and important. This brings out another important feature of values; people do not always consciously formulate the values that guide their behaviour. Many values are internalised during childhood and become taken-for-granted assumptions about appropriate conduct.
• Clyde Kluckhohn also provides an important sociological understanding of values by treating them as conceptions of the desirable which influence the selection of goals, means and modes of action. Values therefore influence not merely what people want to achieve but also the ways in which they consider it appropriate to achieve those goals.

From these perspectives, values can broadly be understood as, “Socially shared and relatively general standards or conceptions of what is desirable, right, good or important, which guide human behaviour and provide criteria for evaluating conduct.”

Characteristics of Values

1. Values are socially acquired – Values are not biologically inherited. Individuals acquire them through interaction with other members of society and through the process of socialisation. The family is generally the first important agency through which children learn values. Schools, peer groups, religious institutions, mass media and other social institutions also participate in this process.
2. Values are socially shared – Values have a social character because they are held, to varying degrees, by members of a group or society. The degree of agreement need not be complete. Modern societies contain different communities, classes, generations and other groups with different value orientations.
3. Values are learned and internalised - Values are not merely external rules. Through socialisation, individuals may internalise them so deeply that they become part of their own moral and psychological orientation. Consequently, people may follow certain standards even when no external authority is present.
4. Values are general and abstract - Values are usually broader and more abstract than norms. Justice, equality, honesty, freedom and dignity are general ideas rather than instructions concerning one particular act. This is why Johnson refers to values as “higher order norms.”
5. Values are evaluative – Values provide criteria for judging things as desirable or undesirable, good or bad and right or wrong. They therefore have an essential evaluative character.
6. Values guide behaviour – Values provide general guidelines for conduct and influence the goals people choose and the means they consider acceptable for achieving them. They do not mechanically determine behaviour, since individuals may face conflicting values and different social circumstances. Nevertheless, they provide an important orientation for action.
7. Values are relatively stable but changeable – Values generally possess a degree of continuity because they are transmitted from one generation to another. However, they are not permanent or unchangeable. Changes in economic conditions, education, technology, political institutions, social movements and patterns of family life can lead to changes in values.

Relationship Between Values and Norms

Values and norms are closely connected.

Values express broad ideas concerning what is desirable, whereas norms specify the expected behaviour through which those values are expressed.

For example:

• Value: Honesty

Norm: Do not cheat or deliberately deceive others.

• Value: Equality

Norm: Do not discriminate against people on the basis of socially prohibited distinctions.

• Value: Respect for elders

Norm: Behave respectfully towards older members of the family or community.

Thus, Values refers to general standards and ideals, and Norms are the specific rules or expectations of behaviour. This relationship explains Johnson’s description of values as higher-order norms.

Values also help to bring about some degree of adjustment between different sets of norms. Where several rules govern different areas of social life, underlying values provide a broader basis through which these rules can be reconciled.

Functions of Values

Values perform a number of important functions in social life.

1. Values provide goals or ends for members to aim for – Values help determine the goals and ends that individuals and groups consider worth pursuing. For example, if a society gives importance to education, educational achievement becomes an important goal. If social justice is highly valued, reducing inequality may become a collective objective. Values therefore provide direction to individual and collective action.
2. Values provide stability and uniformity in group interaction – Shared values create a degree of stability and uniformity in social interaction. When members of a group share certain basic values, they have a common understanding of what is expected and desirable. This facilitates interaction and contributes to a sense of belongingness among those who share common values. For instance, common values concerning mutual respect, cooperation and responsibility can strengthen relationships within a group. This does not imply that all members of a society must possess identical values. Rather, some degree of shared value orientation provides a basis for social cohesion.
3. Values provide legitimacy to social rules and institutions – Values give legitimacy to the rules governing specific activities. A rule is more readily accepted when people believe that it is consistent with values they consider important. For example, democratic political institutions derive much of their legitimacy from values such as equality, freedom and participation. Similarly, educational institutions are associated with values concerning knowledge, achievement and personal development. Values therefore provide a broader justification for norms and institutional arrangements.
4. Values help adjust different sets of rules – A society contains numerous groups, institutions and situations, each governed by its own set of norms. Sometimes these norms may come into conflict. Values provide broader principles which can help bring about some adjustment between different sets of rules. For example, a society may have norms associated with family obligations, occupational responsibilities and individual freedom. When these expectations come into conflict, broader values concerning responsibility, fairness or individual dignity may provide a basis for resolving the conflict. Thus, values contribute to a degree of consistency among different normative systems.
5. Values distinguish right from wrong and desirable from undesirable – Values provide the standards by which behaviour is evaluated. They enable members of society to distinguish between:

• right and wrong;
• good and bad;
• desirable and undesirable;
• acceptable and unacceptable; and
• important and unimportant.

This evaluative function is central to the regulation of social behaviour. For example, if honesty is considered an important value, dishonesty is likely to be judged negatively. If equality is valued, discriminatory behaviour may be regarded as undesirable.

6. Values facilitate social control – Values provide the broader foundation of social control. Because norms are often based upon values, adherence to values encourages conformity to social expectations. Moreover, when values have been internalised through socialisation, individuals may regulate their own behaviour without requiring continuous external supervision. For example, a person who has internalised honesty as an important value may refrain from cheating even when there is no immediate possibility of punishment. Values therefore contribute to internal as well as external social control.
7. Values promote social integration – Shared values can contribute to social integration and solidarity. When members of a society or group share certain fundamental values, they possess a common basis for cooperation and collective life. Values such as mutual respect, justice, cooperation and social responsibility can strengthen social relationships. At the same time, societies are characterised by value diversity. Therefore, integration may involve accommodation and adjustment among different value orientations rather than complete agreement.

Importance of Values in Sociology

Values are particularly important to sociology because they are closely connected with culture, socialisation, social order, social control and social change.

1. Understanding cultural diversity – Values are an integral part of culture. Different societies and social groups possess different value systems, and these influence their behaviour, beliefs, institutions and practices. The study of values therefore enables sociologists to understand why societies differ in their patterns of family life, religion, education, political behaviour and social relationships. For example, societies may differ in the relative importance they attach to individual achievement, collective responsibility, tradition, equality or authority. The study of values consequently helps sociology understand cultural diversity without automatically judging one cultural system by the standards of another.
2. Understanding norms and social order - Values provide an important basis for the formation of social norms. Norms are specific expectations regarding behaviour, while values provide the broader ideas of desirability underlying those expectations. Because norms regulate conduct, values indirectly contribute to the maintenance of social order. When values change, the norms based upon them may also undergo modification.
3. Understanding socialisation – Values are transmitted from one generation to another through socialisation. The family, school, peer group, religion, media and other institutions teach individuals what their society considers desirable and important. Through this process, values become internalised and individuals develop a sense of what they ought to do and what they ought to avoid. The study of values therefore helps sociologists understand how individuals become functioning members of society.
4. Understanding social change – Values can be both products and causes of social change. When social conditions change, people's values may change accordingly. At the same time, changes in values can produce demands for changes in social norms, laws and institutions. For example, changing values concerning gender equality have contributed to changes in attitudes towards women's education, employment, political participation and family roles. Similarly, growing emphasis on environmental responsibility has influenced attitudes towards natural resources, pollution and patterns of economic development. Thus, values are important not only for understanding social stability but also for understanding social transformation.
5. Understanding social conflict – Different groups may hold different or competing values. Such differences can produce value conflict. For example, individuals and groups may disagree over the relative importance of tradition and modernity, individual freedom and collective welfare, or economic development and environmental protection. Sociologists study such conflicts because they can influence social movements, political debates, institutional changes and patterns of social interaction.

Conclusion

Values are general and socially shared standards concerning what is desirable, right, good and important. They form an essential part of culture and provide broad guidelines for conduct. As H. M. Johnson puts it, values are “higher order norms”, because they provide the general standards from which more specific norms and expectations of behaviour can be derived.

Values provide goals or ends for individuals and groups, create stability and uniformity in social interaction, promote a sense of belonging, provide legitimacy to social rules and institutions, help adjust different sets of rules, and provide standards for distinguishing right from wrong and desirable from undesirable. They also play an important role in social control, socialisation and social integration.

From the sociological point of view, the study of values is important for understanding cultural diversity, social norms and order, socialisation, social conflict and social change. Values are transmitted through socialisation, but they are not permanently fixed. As social conditions change, values may change, and such changes can subsequently influence norms, laws and institutions.

Thus, values perform a dual function in society; they provide continuity and stability by maintaining shared standards, while also providing a basis for social change when established values are challenged or replaced by new ones.