Values serve to determine the "correct" actions that should guide people's behavior. It is a system that allows human beings to guide their actions within a specific context.
Values can be positive or negative and are defined in relation to each other. For example, the value of honesty is positive and can be understood thanks to its relationship with dishonesty, which is its negative.
Each person has a different scale of values. This means that each value has a different importance for each human being. For example, honesty may be more important to a person than courage, or vice versa.
The construction of values and the scale of values is different for each person. It is influenced by the social context in which each person develops. Each family and each social group have different values that influence the lives of its members.
The values are also changing. There are new values that are introduced into a social group, others that increase in value and others that are losing it over the years. Therefore it can be stated that the values are not absolute.
What are the values for?
To build identity
Values are fundamental in the construction of the identity of human beings. What each person considers right or wrong defines many aspects of his life, even if these values have not been consciously established.
The way of dressing, friendships, places that are frequented, activities that are carried out, hobbies. These are all questions that people select according to their value system.
For example, a person who prioritizes the value of simplicity will have a much simpler way of dressing than a person who prioritizes the value of creativity. Therefore, your values will be clearly reflected in that feature of your identity.
To define the life project
The value system of each person is fundamental when defining a life project. What each individual proposes to achieve in her future is directly related to what she considers correct.
The choice of a profession, a university and all the mechanisms to achieve its objectives, depends on the values that each person cultivates.
For example, a person who prioritizes imagination is more likely to choose an arts career. Meanwhile, a person who prioritizes generosity is more likely to choose a career in social work.
To make everyday decisions
All daily decisions, even the simplest ones, are conditioned by the scale of values of each human being. There are implicit values, that is, you are not aware of them, but they participate in daily life.
From simple issues such as choosing how to eat, to selecting the neighborhood in which you want to buy a new home, all choices account for the values.
For example, a person can choose to buy organic and healthy food, regardless of how much of their salary is spent on it. Of this person it can be affirmed that he prioritizes the value of self-care before attachment to the economic.
To measure success
The achievement values are those that allow to measure the level of success of a person. Through these values, each human being evaluates her own development in relation to others and defines her own satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
For example, a person who prioritizes independence over attachment to finances, may feel more satisfied in a self-employment than in a stable and routine job, even if it does not allow him to have a high salary.
For a responsible development of professions
All professions have a code of ethics that includes the fundamental values that should govern all their activities. These criteria are very important because they define minimum agreements for the proper development of each discipline.
For example, for journalism a fundamental value is transparency. However, psychology does not prioritize this value because for this discipline discretion is even more important.
Maintain social stability
Each society has a different value system that is essential for its development. Although these are relative and changing, the values established at a given moment allow all members of the population to advance in the same direction.
The values of each society determine the attitudes expected of its members and its leaders. Therefore, they are decisive in the general direction of society.
For example, in societies where tradition is given more importance than freedom, more restrictive rules are often established for citizens.
To establish laws
The social norms and laws that regulate the operation of each country also depend on their respective value systems.
The rights and duties of citizens, what is considered a crime or not, and the punishments for these crimes are examples of this. All of these are issues that are set forth in the laws of each country, depending on its scale of values.
If tolerance is an important value within a society, it will have tolerant leaders. For example, in countries such as China and the United States, tolerance is not a priority within the scale of values, which is why they retain the death penalty.
To transform the laws
Bearing in mind that values and value systems are changing, it is to be expected that the laws that govern countries will also change.
This can be easily verified by observing the updates that all countries make of their own political constitutions. This is because, as humanity is transformed, there are values that become more important and others that lose importance.
For example, in recent times, laws have been passed around the world in favor of equal marriage and adoption by homosexual couples.
This transformation demonstrates how the values of equality and freedom have taken on greater relevance than tradition.
References
- Ahmed, Z. (SF). Moral, values and moral values. Recovered from: academia.edu
- International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. (2008). The concept of Values. Recovered: encyclopedia.com
- Investopedia. (SF). Business Ethics. Recovered from: investopedia.com
- Mindtools. (SF). What are your values? Recovered from: mindtools.com
- Singer, P. (2015). Ethics. Recovered from: britannica.com.