Cultural values are the general and overarching aspirations and ideals that societies promote for their people. These are broad ideas of what is suitable and desirable. These are the abstract ideas of what is good and bad, what is right and wrong.

Cultural values are the cultural parameters of a society. They characterize a society, not individuals. The majority of people from a certain culture presumably share the same cultural values in social life.

Researchers have studied cultural values over many years in a variety of social sciences, including cultural anthropology and social psychology. The Schwartz theory of cultural values is among the outstanding conceptions in this field (see for review, e.g., Karandashev, 2021a).

Schwartz’s Theory of Cultural Values

The Schwartz theory of cultural values includes seven cultural values: (1) Embeddedness, (2) Intellectual autonomy, (3) Affective autonomy, (4) Hierarchy, (5) Egalitarianism, (6) Mastery, and (7) Harmony.

Shalom Schwartz, a cross-cultural researcher in social psychology, conducted extensive studies of the value orientations of thousands of respondents across many different countries in the world. The results allowed him to establish seven country-level value orientations (Schwartz, 1992, 1994, 1999).

1. Embeddedness emphasizes the need to maintain the status quo, propriety, and restraint of actions or inclinations that might disrupt the solidary group or the traditional order in which people are embedded.
2. Intellectual autonomy emphasizes the desirability of individuals to pursuing their own ideas and intellectual directions independently.
3. Affective autonomy emphasizes the desirability of individuals’ pursuing affectively positive experiences.
4. Hierarchy emphasizes the legitimacy of an unequal distribution of power, roles, and resources.
5. Egalitarianism emphasizes the transcendence of selfish interests in favor of a voluntary commitment to promote the welfare of others.
6. Mastery emphasizes getting ahead through active self-assertion.
7. Harmony emphasizes fitting harmoniously into the environment (quoted in Smith, Peterson, & Schwartz, 2002, p.193).

The detailed analysis of the results showed that these seven country-level types of values are organized into a quasi-circumplex structure consisting of three dimensions (Schwartz, 1999, 2003, 2006, 2016):

1. embeddedness versus autonomy,
2. hierarchy versus egalitarianism,
3. mastery versus harmony.

The Values of Embeddedness and Autonomy

The dimension of embeddedness versus autonomy explains how societies maintain the boundaries between an individual person and a larger group of people.

In cultures high in autonomy, a society considers people as individuals autonomous from their group. Autonomous individuals are expected to appreciate their own uniqueness, follow their own ideas, preferences, and abilities, and express their own internal preferences, motives, and feelings. There are two realms of autonomy: intellectual and affective. People are encouraged to pursue their personal interests and ideas in a society that places a high cultural value on intellectual autonomy. This value encourages people to follow their independent intellectual aspirations and growth. Affective autonomy implies the high value of pleasure and excitement in life and inspires people to appreciate their own positive affective experiences.

In cultures high in embeddedness, individuals are strongly embedded in their in-group.

The major value and meaning of individual life for them are linked to identification of a person with a group, social relationships, a shared way of life, and pursuing shared goals of the group. This collective orientation of embeddedness in society entails respect for social order and tradition, the maintenance of proper relationships with people in the immediate social environment surrounding a person. This value advises individuals to restrain their dispositions and actions that may disrupt the solidary of a group.

The Values of Hierarchy and Egalitarianism

The cultural dimension of hierarchy versus egalitarianism explains how societies regulate social order and how people coordinate with others, consider their welfare, and manage their interdependencies.

In cultures high in hierarchy, society is considered as a hierarchical system of social relationships with ascribed roles. The system of social power works to ensure the responsible behavior of people. This cultural value expects that people understand this hierarchical distribution of roles and conform to the obligations linked to their roles. Individuals should accept that status differentials in power and unequal resource distribution are socially legitimate. The values of authority, social power, wealth, and humility are very important in hierarchical societies.

In cultures high in egalitarianism, society suggests that people recognize each other as equal individuals and take responsibility for each other. They should respect equality in interpersonal relationships. The value of egalitarianism entails a voluntary commitment to cooperate with others. This value also means a desire to promote the wellbeing of other members of society. The virtues of social justice, honesty, and responsibility are given high priority.

The values of harmony and mastery

The dimension of harmony versus mastery explains the societal values of how individuals consider relations with other people and the environment.

Cultures high in harmony expect that people should fit into the environment around them and into social relationships. In ecological meaning, the value of harmony underscores the importance of unity with the physical environment, adjustment to nature, and self-transcendence. In social and interpersonal relationships, this value highlights the need for social and interpersonal adjustment. People in a society with such cultural values tend to understand and appreciate things as they are, rather than to direct and change them.

In cultures high in mastery, society accentuates the need to control situations and contexts rather than adjust to the social environment. It encourages individuals to master and change the environment. The value of mastery emphasizes the importance of getting ahead. Society encourages individuals to actively pursue their personal goals, despite the expense of others. In such a society, self-assertion, along with ambition, daring, competence, and success, are the personal characteristics of high priority.