Values: Types and Sources
RAS Mains, Paper II, Unit I, point 1: "Ethics and human values: ... role of family, society and educational institutions in inculcating values"
- Updated for the Jan 2026 syllabus
- Read time: about 9 minutes
Exam weight (our count from the real 2018-2024 papers)
2023 Part B Q6 ("distinctive features of Human Values") is a direct question. A close one is 2021 Part B Q10 (core ethical values for excellence in civil service). Point 1 drew 9 questions in all. This is our own count, not an RPSC notice.
30-second summary
Remember
- Values are lasting beliefs that make one conduct or goal more desirable than another and set our priorities in decisions.
- A handy classification: personal, social, moral, constitutional, and professional or organisational values.
- Rokeach (1973): 18 terminal (goal) values and 18 instrumental (means) values.
- Sources: family, society and culture, religion and tradition, education, peer group, media and digital platforms, the Constitution and law, experience, role models.
- Values grow through imitation, dialogue, reward and punishment, experience and reflection; for a public servant, constitutional values are the last test of every decision.
Part A box (each line 15 words or fewer)
Remember
- Question (our practice question, not a PYQ): What are values?
- Answer: Values are lasting beliefs that make one conduct or goal more desirable than another. (14 words)
- Ready line 2: In Rokeach's scheme, terminal values are goals and instrumental values are the means. (13 words)
- Ready line 3: The Preamble's four values are justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. (10 words)
1. What values are
Lasting beliefs that make one conduct or goal more desirable than another. They fix our priorities when we decide.
2. Features of human values (our compilation, for 2023 Q6)
Learned: not inborn; they form through family, society and experience.
Lasting: durable over time, deeper than habits or moods.
Guiding: they become the yardstick for choices and conduct.
A sense of "ought": more than taste; they carry desirability and obligation.
Ordered: each person ranks their values, and values sometimes collide (honesty against loyalty, say).
Shared core, varied expression: truth, compassion and justice are widely shared, but their form varies with culture.
3. Types of values (a convenient classification)
Personal: discipline, courage, self-respect.
Social: cooperation, tolerance, charity.
Moral: truth, honesty, non-violence, justice.
Constitutional: in the Preamble, justice (social, economic, political); liberty (of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship); equality (of status and of opportunity); fraternity (assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation).
Professional or organisational: service, impartiality, accountability.
4. Terminal and instrumental values
The American social psychologist Milton Rokeach (The Nature of Human Values, 1973) sorted values into two classes: terminal values, the goals of life (a world at peace, happiness, freedom), and instrumental values, the means of reaching them (honesty, courage). His survey listed 18 terminal and 18 instrumental values.
5. Sources of values
Family, society and culture, religion and tradition, education, peer groups, media and digital platforms, the Constitution and law, life experience, and role models. (Each source gets its own page: 1.5 family, 1.6 society, 1.7 educational institutions.)
6. How values develop
Through imitation, dialogue, reward and punishment, experience and reflection.
7. Values, attitudes and norms
Values are deep and lasting; an attitude is a tendency towards a person, thing or situation, shaped by values; social norms are the conduct a group expects.
8. Administrative angle
Organisational values (service, impartiality, accountability) last only when they show in training, in leaders' own conduct and in institutional design. Constitutional values are the final test of every decision a public servant takes.
How to use it in an answer
after "values give direction to conduct", add: "as in 1730, when the Bishnoi community at Khejarli gave their lives for the value of protecting trees."
Mini case study
No case on this page: it deals with definition, types and sources. The cases tied to the sources of values are on pages 1.5 (family), 1.6 (society) and 1.7 (educational institutions).
Thinkers and quotes box
| Name | Idea | Usable line |
|---|---|---|
| Milton Rokeach | Terminal versus instrumental values | The Nature of Human Values (1973): 18 terminal and 18 instrumental values; examples: "A World at Peace" (terminal), "Honest (sincere, truthful)" (instrumental) |
| Mahatma Gandhi | The seven social sins | "Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principle." (Young India, 22 October 1925; Gandhi printed it as a "fair friend's" list; almost the same list appeared about six months earlier (1925) in a Westminster Abbey sermon by the clergyman Frederick Lewis Donaldson, so "published by Gandhi" is the safe phrase, not "composed by Gandhi") |
| Preamble to the Constitution | Constitutional values | Justice, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity |
Diagram: flow
Family
Left column, sources
Society and culture
Education
Peer group
Media and digital platforms
Religion and tradition
Constitution and law
Life experience
Role models
A person's values (personal, social, moral, constitutional, professional)
Middle
Attitude → conduct and decisions
Right column
How values grow: imitation, dialogue, reward and punishment, experience, reflection
Bar along the top
How the concept was asked before: no question titled "what are values" appeared in 2018, 2021 or 2024; in 2023 the features of values were asked (above). Questions on the sources of values (society, family, education) appeared in 2018 (Q7), 2021 (Q6, Q7) and 2024 (Q7); they have pages 1.5 to 1.7.
Common mistakes
Remember
- Treating values and attitudes as one; values are deep and lasting, while an attitude is a tendency towards a particular person or situation.
- Swapping Rokeach's two classes, or forgetting the numbers (18 and 18) and the year (1973).
- Listing sources without saying that sources can also pass on narrow beliefs (the next three pages cover the limits).
Self-check (5 questions)
Remember
- Define a value in one sentence.
- Name the five types of values.
- Into which two classes did Rokeach put values, and how many in each?
- Give four sources of values.
- What are the four values of the Preamble?
Worked example (documented, with year)
Case studyRajasthan: Khejarli, 1730, a value that demanded a price
In September 1730 (usually given as 11 September), at Khejarli village in the Jodhpur region, men acting for Maharaja Abhay Singh of Marwar came to fell khejri trees. Led by Amrita Devi, Bishnoi villagers tried to stop them by clinging to the trees. By the commonly cited accounts, 363 Bishnois were killed. Sources differ on what the wood was for (a palace, or lime kilns), so do not stress the reason in an answer.
- Source
- Wikipedia, "Khejarli massacre" and "Amrita Devi"; cross-check the figure and date against more than one source. The same example appears on page 2.1.
Lesson
reverence for nature was, for them, a goal bound up with life itself, and the courage to protect it an instrumental value. A value is truly tested when keeping it costs something.
Practice Questions
Practice questionabout 50 words
State the distinctive features of Human Values.
Model answer
Human values are learned, not inborn. They are lasting and guide choices and conduct. They carry a sense of what is desirable and are ranked in an order of priority; they sometimes collide. Truth and compassion are widely shared, but how they are expressed varies with culture.
Practice questionabout 100 words
What are human values? Discuss their types and sources.
Model answer
Values are lasting beliefs that make one conduct or goal more desirable than another and fix priorities in decisions. They can be grouped as personal, social, moral, constitutional and professional; in Rokeach's scheme some are terminal goals and some instrumental means. Their main sources are family, society and culture, religion and tradition, education, peers, media, the Constitution and experience, and they develop through imitation, dialogue and experience. The sacrifice at Khejarli (1730) shows that a value is tested by what it costs to keep. The quality of these sources later shapes a public servant's character. Constitutional values are the final test.
Real PYQs
2023Paper II, Part B, Q65 marks
State the distinctive features of Human Values. [point 1]
2021Paper II, Part B, Q105 marks
What are the core ethical values required for excellence in civil service? [point 3/values] (developed on page 3.8)
How to Write This Answer
Introduction
definition
Body
- types, Rokeach, sources, how values develop
Conclusion
the quality of sources shapes character
Value addition
- the Preamble's four values, Khejarli 1730, Gandhi's seven social sins
One-page Revision
- Value = desirable lasting belief
- features: learned, lasting, guiding, "ought", ordered, shared core
- 5 types
- Rokeach 1973: terminal versus instrumental (18+18)
- sources: family, society, education, media, Constitution, experience
- Preamble: justice, liberty, equality, fraternity
- Khejarli 1730 (363)
- Gandhi's seven social sins (Young India, 1925)
- 2023 Q6
- 2021 Q10.