Values Modes

The Values Modes tool is based on the premise of twelve discrete psychographic types, under three umbrella groups. These were developed using a combination of empirical research and the application of Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.[3]

The British Values Survey asks a large sample of people a range of questions each year.[4] It uses their answers to track how values are changing. Researchers gauge shifts in the values composition of certain groups and track changes in the overall population.

The British Values Survey measures over 100 psychological attributes of individuals, and includes Shalom Schwartz's Values scales model, which identifies ten core human values.[5] Questions are based on a simple Likert scale. They range from everyday concerns (i.e. "How much do you agree that products don't last as long as they used to?") to questions on social issues like the sentencing of criminals.[6]

A person's 'values group' can affect how they view most issues, from the environment[8] to taxation, immigration or economic and personal aspiration. Individuals with different values are said to perceive these issues differently, and are more amenable to certain changes. Values Modes is therefore used by some organisations to design policies, behaviour change strategies and social marketing campaigns. It has been deployed in areas including [public health, recycling and road safety, and has particular usage among local authorities looking to build relations with residents.[9] Values Modes is also said to have business uses, and has also been applied to corporate governance in the past.[10]

A person's values can also affect the language they respond best to. Prospectors, for example, are reportedly more open than Settlers to statistics-led messaging, and there are also often clashes between service providers, who tend to be Pioneers, and service-users, who are often Settlers.[11] The Values Modes tool is therefore also used by some communications departments, to prevent “clashes” and to "tailor initiatives and messages to fit different value groups."[12]

Analysts who use the Values Modes tool claim that, as class-based voting has "dealigned",[13] it provides a more accurate model of voting behaviour than segmentation based on race or ethnicity, or social class-based approaches such as Mosaic and ACORN.[14][15]

This has affected how analysts who use Values Modes view politics.[16] In the case of the Labour Party, for example, it has been suggested that the distinction between Blue and New Labour is largely a distinction between an appeal to Settler and Prospector values.[17] The tool has also been used in the media to analyse Barack Obama's victory in the 2012 U.S. presidential election,[18] to explore messaging in the film An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore,[19] and to inform the debate about the possibility of a UK Brexit from the EU.[20]

This has led some to go further and link people's values to fundamental changes in the political spectrum[21] – although the three main UK political parties each have a fairly even mix of the three values groups.[22]

Some figures on the political left have used the Values Modes tool to try and understand the rise of UK Independence Party (UKIP)[23] – a political party with a predominantly Settler base (especially among those with Brave New World or Golden Dreamer values[24]), which is built on preoccupations with issues like immigration. Nick Pecorelli argues that Labour lost many of its Settler supporters in office, and attributes the rise of UKIP, in part, to this change, writing that “Labour Settlers, once the bedrock of the party’s support, are gradually being dislodged from their tribal loyalties”.[25] Values Modes were used as part of a Labour Party strategy on 'Beating UKIP on the Ground',[26] which was incorporated into the Fabian Society paper, "Revolt on the Left".

The Values Modes tool is based on the premise that people switch between groups as life experiences change their values. If people's needs are met and goals are fulfilled they tend to make a transition through the groups.[27] This shift usually takes the form of a move from Settler to Prospector to Pioneer, as immediate, sustenance-driven needs are replaces with more abstract concerns.

The British Values Survey indicates that, since data collection began, the proportion of the UK population in different values groups has changed significantly.[28] The period 1973–2005 saw a shift away from Settler values[29] – probably because of greater affluence meaning core needs were more often being met. Since the financial crisis of 2007–2008, the survey describes a return, by some of the less optimistic Prospectors, to Settler values, perhaps as a result of resources being scarcer.

The table below[30] tracks changes to the UK values composition over time. The increase in Prospector values between 2011 and 2012 is "hints at a hesitant return to optimism or perhaps a normalisation of austerity."[30]