On the Role of Security in the System of Personal Values: Are Conservatives Prioritizing Security?

Abstract

Security is a value contained in most theories of personal values. Yet, while the relations among the most basic values are clear and reliable, the role of security in the system of values remains ambiguous. People striving for security are often also striving for tradition and conformity but sometimes they are focusing more on other values (such as health values, for example). Based on eight representative surveys (N = 24,000) in several German cities between 1998 and 2022, the author shows that when measuring security without suggesting a particular meaning of this notion, security takes a relatively central position within the system of values and their components (shown by multidimensional scaling, MDS). People striving for security also emphasize the importance of law and order, working hard, and having a good family life as guiding principles in their lives. Conformity is not that important for them, and having an exciting life is even negatively correlated. Age has little impact on the MDS structure of values and their components, even though people exhibit substantial changes in the relative weights they assign to many values as they get older.