societal values
Shared community principles
Societal values are the shared beliefs and principles that guide a community's sense of right and wrong, shaping its laws, customs, and expectations.
These collective standards—around work, family, justice, or individual freedom—vary across cultures and shift over time: The debate reflects changing societal values around gender roles.
Distinguished from personal values, which may conflict with prevailing norms.
- traditionCustom passed through generations
- integrityMoral soundness and consistency
- fairnessJust and equal treatment
- equal opportunityUnbiased chance for all
- honestyTruthfulness, sincerity
democracy · justice · equity · transparency · public trust · accountability · sustainability · respect · cooperation · compassion · inclusion · tolerance · community · diversity · morals · moral compass · solidarity · prosperity
- culturemusic taste, beliefs, food preferences, custom, festivals
- Asian valuesfilial piety, collectivism, group harmony, interdependence, respect for elders
- religionChristianity, Islam, beliefs, Judaism, Hinduism
- Islamic jurisprudenceijma, Islamic law, Sharia, sharia court, fatwa
- cultural psychologycultural norms, cultural influences, cultural attitudes, enculturation, acculturation
societal valuespersonal values
Individual moral priorities
self-interest · individual conscience · individual autonomy · egoism · individualism
societal valuescounterculture
Rejection of mainstream values
societal valuesamorality
Lacking ethical concern
nihilism · valuelessness · anomie · moral relativism · realpolitik