Cultural Value Orientations: Nature & Implications of National Differences

This monograph presents my theory of seven cultural value orientations and applies it to understanding the many ways in which culture relates to and influences significant societal phenomena. The research on which this monograph is based develops an approach that lets us compare the cultures of societies around the world. It allows us to describe the unique combinations of cultural orientations in different countries, the value profiles that characterize them. I then ask how these cultural value priorities relate to national policies, to the political and economic systems of countries, to international investments, and much more. All this started, however, from somewhere else entirely. I set out to study the basic values of individuals and how they relate to individual behavior. A research failure along the way gave birth not only to one but to two theories of values.