Personal Values and Public Opinion^*

Abstract

Social science considers values a key motivator of human behavior, yet studies of values in public opinion have tended to focus on more limited political values. I investigate how a general theory of human values (Schwartz, 1992) shapes public opinion. In one dimension, individuals are motivated by a desire for independent thought and action versus conformity to traditional social norms; in the second, individuals are motivated by a desire to care for others versus control or achieve superior social status over them. Copyright (c) 2009 by the Southwestern Social Science Association.

Discerning self‐interested behaviour in attitudes towards welfare state responsibilities across Europe

“…Within the first dimension, Schwartz (1992) believed that individuals were motivated by a desire for independent thought and action versus conformity to traditional social norms, while in the second dimension, they were motivated by a desire to care for others rather than to control or to achieve superior social status over them. Because these two dimensions of personal values had been found to be related to citizens' left–right self‐identification, they were widely considered a key ingredient of mass political behaviour as well as other aspects of life (Kilburn, 2009).…”

The Social Ethic of Religiously Unaffiliated Spirituality

“…Not only have values become a critical public concern attached to a discourse about liberalism and conservatism (Kilburn 2009), values are a significant research area because of their ability to predict attitudes and behaviors (e.g., Rokeach 1973, Inglehart 1977Schwartz 1992;Feather 1995 (Schwartz 2010, 222). At the cultural level, values shape the structure of society (Weber 1958) and govern patterns of mass behavior (Inglehart 1977, Inglehart andWelzel 2005).…”

Small Business Orientation: A Construct Proposal

“…Schwartz’s (1994) universal values serve as a framework for research in many academic fields, including international marketing (e.g., Sousa, Ruzo, & Losada, 2010; Steenkamp, Hofstede, & Wedel, 1999); sociology (e.g., Kilburn, 2009); human development (e.g., Chan, 2014); political science (e.g., Aspelund, Lindeman, & Verkasalo, 2013); and services (e.g., Iniesta-Bonillo, Sanchez-Fernandez, & Cervera-Taulet, 2012). Notably, Schwartz’s (1994) values typology has been shown to predict an assortment of managerial practices and behavioral predispositions.…”