The value wheel, colored by which way each value bends politics

The ten Schwartz values at their theory-fixed positions on the circumplex. A dot's distance from the center is the absolute strength of that value's correlation with left–right self-placement in 14 established democracies; red dots pull Right, blue dots pull Left.

pulls Right (positive r with left–right) pulls Left (negative r) rings at r = 0.05, 0.10, 0.15

Takeaway: the conservation and self-enhancement arc — tradition, conformity, security, wealth, success — lights up red on the right of the wheel; the openness and self-transcendence arc — environment, creativity, helping, adventure, excitement — lights up blue on the left. The two strongest signals, tradition (r = +0.153) and environment (r = −0.104), sit almost opposite each other, just as the theory predicts.

Each value's correlation is computed within each established democracy (effective N = 244–5,130 per country cell), then averaged across the 14 countries giving each equal weight. Angles are fixed by Schwartz (1992) theory; only the radius and color carry data. Established democracies, n = 29,217 respondents. Source: World Values Survey waves 5–6, weighted.

Modest everywhere — and weaker still outside the structured-spectrum West

Each value's correlation with left–right self-placement, in the 14 established democracies (filled) versus the other 59 countries (hollow). Values are ordered from most right-tilting to most left-tilting in the established set.

14 established democracies the other 59 countries

Takeaway: in the established democracies (filled dots) the values fan out into a clear right-to-left spread; in the rest of the world (hollow dots) almost every value collapses toward the zero line. The mean absolute correlation is 0.069 in the established democracies against 0.023 elsewhere — roughly three times stronger where the spectrum is structured.

Correlations computed within each country (effective N ≥ 200 per cell), then averaged across countries with equal country weight. Helping others is available in 13 of the 14 established democracies and 47 of the rest. Established set, n = 29,217; full sample, 73 countries and 159,892 respondents. Source: WVS waves 5–6, weighted.

Which value best predicts the right, region by region

The single most right-tilting Schwartz value in each World Bank region, with its correlation with left–right self-placement. Bars are colored by the value's Schwartz family.

Takeaway: across five of the seven regions the strongest right-predictor is the same value — tradition — and it is sharpest in North America (r = +0.211, the United States and Canada). The exceptions are low-confidence: Sub-Saharan Africa's winner is a near-zero environment, and South Asia's is excitement on just two countries.

Within each region, each value's left–right correlation is computed per country then averaged across that region's countries (equal weight). South Asia (Pakistan, India) and North America (United States, Canada) rest on only 2 countries each and are noisy; Sub-Saharan Africa's strongest signal is itself near zero. Region country counts shown on each bar. Source: WVS waves 5–6, weighted.